


The Infected

by TheKnittingLady



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: ( consensual ), (But you don't see it), Horror, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Implied/Referenced Torture, Multi, Science Fiction, Sexual Content, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-26
Updated: 2014-10-03
Packaged: 2018-02-10 11:21:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 65
Words: 91,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2023239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheKnittingLady/pseuds/TheKnittingLady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens when Reid and JJ are caught up in one of the more bizarre cases the BAU has ever seen.  And who is the real bad guy anyway?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**_Part 1 – Contagion_ **

_The fact that I was fortunate enough to escape contagion, in spite of frequent, sometimes daily contacts with the disease, was because I soon guessed how it spread._

_\- Charles Jules Henry Nicole_

* * *

_._

* * *

 

 

**Chapter 1**

**Year 1**

Kelly Bryant was the first. She was 20, a student at Castleton State College in Vermont majoring in Early Childhood Education. She was single, had been dating her boyfriend David Nyugen for a year and a half, was decently athletic, active in a number of campus groups, and had no known major health or psychological issues. She had light brown hair that was almost blond, hazel green eyes and a sparkling smile. And she was gone. She’d been out hiking with her friends in the Green Ridge State Forest, they turned around and she was just gone.

Of course one missing college kid wasn’t enough to gain the attention of the BAU. Sure, it got a lot of attention, a lot of press, her family doing everything right, but not enough to call down the ones who deal with the crazies.

The next month it was Samuel Dielbery, 63, a lifelong hunter. He was out stalking deer with his buddies one minute, the next he was gone.

The third was Chet Johnston. He was 23, a local resident, notable only because he had two sheriff’s officers trying to hot on his tail at the time because of that outstanding possession with intent to sell warrant. They swore he stopped a bit away, looked down, and vanished right in front of them.

The forth month it was David Nyugen, out with a search party looking for Kelly, who disappeared without a trace.

Two days later Kelly came back. The coroner took one look and called for the BAU

* * *

 

“Spencer!” Alex Blake said, loud enough to make the entire courtyard look around. “What did you do now?”

Dr. Spencer Reid sighed and rolled forward. He had six weeks off after being shot in the knee so he could heal enough to get up on crutches but staying home that long was boring as hell and most university buildings were ADA compliant. So he’d contacted his old friend Dr. Alex Blake over at Georgetown and asked if she wanted a guest lecturer in her Forensic Linguistics class. Or any class. Or anything. “I got shot.”

“Seriously?”

How she managed professionalism, friendship and motherly concern all at once he would never know. “Yeah. I, um, got between a shooter and his target. They usually don’t shoot at that point.”

“The one time you were wrong. Do you need help with that?” She nodded to the milk crate of materials on his lap.

It was tricky as hell to balance and get the wheelchair moving. And the paratransport left him at the building curb, it went no further. “Kind of but your hands are full.”

“What are advisees for but slave labor?” She said with a quiet smile before turning toward the fountain. “Elena!”

Spencer watched as a young woman detached herself from the group and came over. To be honest he kind of stared as a young woman detached herself from the group and came over. She was small to the point of being petite, with lots of thick, dark brown curls that she pulled back from her face as she walked up, “Yes Dr. Blake?”

“Elena Rosen, Dr. Spencer Reid. Can you help get his materials in to the hall? He’s giving the lecture today.”

“Sure.” Her voice was soft and gentle, almost musical. Spencer felt a little lost as a smile came over those soft rose lips and pixie features and she scooped the crate off his lap. “What’s the lecture on today?”

“Dahhh ahhhh, um, the use of forensic linguistics in the field.” Great, his stammering had caught Alex’s attention. She put an eyebrow up but looked away and said nothing. “Is...your degree in forensic linguistics?”

“No. I’m actually majoring in Anthropology with a concentration in applied linguistics. I’m doing my dissertation on how the justice system, specifically the penal system, affects society, and how you can judge the relative state of a society by looking at how the penal culture affect language. What do you do, when you’re not guest lecturing?”

Oh good heavens. Part of him just wanted to stay there and discuss her research.   “I’m with the FBI. I’m with the Behavioral Analysis Unit, actually.”

She brightened with interest at that. “Really?”

Another part of him just wanted to stay there and admire the intelligence in those crystal blue eyes. “We should really go get set up.” Alex said. Damn the woman.

They started in to the building. “Are you going to be lecturing over the summer?” Elena asked.

“Yes. I’ll be back to guest lecture regularly.” Alex turned to look at him then, an amused smile on her lips.

* * *

 

Hotch and Rossi looked over the body of Kelly Bryant with no little curiosity. “Do we know what killed her?” Hotch asked

“Not David Nyugen.” Rossi said. “He was under close watch this entire time, he couldn’t have done this.” He accepted the report from the coroner with a murmur of thanks, “Apparently a mixture of sedatives and a large dose of sodium Phenobarbital. Blue juice, they use it to put down animals humanely.”

“So she went without pain. She looked like she’s in otherwise perfect condition.”

“She is. I had to get the first blood work done to figure out what killed her.” The coroner replied. “She was wearing the clothes she went missing in; I sent them off to your lab already”

Rossi turned her arm over. “Track marks. Any idea what she was on?”

“Nope. Still waiting on toxicology. I’ll get it to you when it’s done.”

“All on one side, and look at the scarring on her wrist.” Rossi pointed it out. “He restrained her on that side.”

The coroner nodded. “None of that is the weird part. This is why I called you.” He showed them a set of pictures. In it was a slender glass capsule with a grey lining, sitting next to a common rollerball pen, to show that it was the same size. “I found this tucked into her abdomen. There was a very faint scar where it had been inserted.”

“Can we see it?” Hotch asked.

The coroner shook his head. “I’ll send it back to you but you’ll need to open it in some kind of lab. I have an old radiation meter in this lab, as soon as I cracked it the thing went off. I sealed it up right away just in case.”

“Shielding to protect her,” Rossi nodded. “But what is it?’

“I have no idea.”

“How long was she gone again?” Hotch asked.

“Exactly 90 days.” The coroner replied.

“Keep us posted.” Hotch said.

* * *

 

Exactly 90 days after Samuel Dielbery went missing his body was found. He was found in the same perfect condition as Kelly, with the same glass tube in his abdomen. That was the same month that Amy Kessler, another college student, went missing. The BAU waited to pass official judgment, but they all knew what was coming.

Ninety days after Chet Johnston went missing he too was found in the same condition. And Josh Wise, a sheriff’s deputy, went missing. “OK, it’s a serial.” Morgan said, looking at the board.

“A very, very patient serial,” JJ said.

“Three victims at a time,” Emily mused. “So maybe he only has facilities to hold three. And whatever he’s doing takes exactly ninety days, so once he clears out a slot he brings in another.”

“But why stagger them?” Morgan asked. “Why not take three at once?’

“The only commonality is geographical.” Spencer pointed out. “All of the disappearances have taken place within what’s known as the Bennington triangle, an area reputed to be a hot spot for paranormal activity. “

“One of the legends must be drawing him.” JJ said. “How is he catching them? Witnesses say they just disappear into thin air. I mean Samuel Dielbery, Chet Johnston and Deputy Wise were all armed, you would think they would fight back somehow.”

“Did we ever find out what was up with that tube in each of their torsos?” Emily asked.

“No. The labs are still testing them.” Spencer said. “It looks like Homeland has classified the test results.”

“Homeland? That’s weird. I may have some contacts over that way, I’ll ask around, see what I can find out.”

“We still don’t have enough for a profile.” Hotch said.

* * *

 

Ninety days after her disappearance Amy Kessler came back. And a leader from the local Boy Scout troop, Bob Trout went missing

Ninety days later the local Sheriff’s search and rescue team was out looking for John Wise’s body. While they were out one of their dogs, trained to cadaver searches, did a remains spot on one location, but there was no body there. “What did you find?” Hotch asked when they arrived.

“Cremains,” the Sheriff replied. “And one of those glass tubes in the middle. Think it was Josh?”

“We’ll have to see if tests can be done, but it’s likely.”

The Sheriff sighed, “Hard on his wife, without a body to bury. “

“And where is he getting the facility?” Rossi asked. “Cremating a body takes large equipment.”

“We’ll check every crematorium in the state just to be sure. Why did he change up now?”

Hotch shook his head. “We don’t know”

* * *

 

While everyone else went out into the woods looking for the missing people Spencer got stuck in the Sheriff’s substation yet again. Not that he minded, the woods were never his favorite place to be. Granted the local deputies were looking over at him and whispering from time to time, but he just ignored them in favor of trying to refine the search maps.

JJ, however, did notice. “They’re staring at you, you know.” She murmured as she brought over some coffee. She had stayed behind to manage the gaggle of press outside.

“I know.” Spencer said.

“That doesn’t bother you?”

“No. Does it bother you?”

“A little, I don’t know why they are.”

“Probably because they think I’m the useless geek the “real” agents were saddled with, and that I’m too weak to go out in the field.”

JJ was shocked by this. “That is both not true and not fair!”

“I know. But I know what I did was right. Their thoughts on the issue don’t matter to me. Have we heard back from the searchers in Sector four yet?”

“I don’t think so. Want me to go see if they’ve checked in?”

“Please.”

“They have doughnuts in the break room. Want one?”

“Or two, please.” Spencer watched her walking away. He really didn’t care what the locals thought, he knew that if he hadn’t been recovering from being shot he’d be out there, that was all that mattered. But he was very touched by JJ’s attention. That meant a lot more than she knew.

* * *

 

The month they found the cremated remains of Josh Wise no one went missing.

No one went missing the next month, when the cremated remains of Amy Kessler turned up.

No one went missing the next month either, when they found the remains of Bob Trout.

Homeland locked down all of the test results and refused to share.

* * *

 

Spencer knew that a tall scarecrow of a man in a formal suit, leaning on a cane, was not the most intimidating being that could arrive on someone’s doorstep at near to midnight, but at the moment he didn’t care. “Hey!” He barked out.

The men in front of him were just drunk enough to be dangerous, just enough to be frightening. “What?” One of them asked.

“She’s not home.” Spencer said, clearly and calmly. “Go away.”

“Yo, fuck off man. She’s home. Get your ass out here bitch!” He screamed up at the building. “The fuck you break up with me!”

“Lisa. Is. Not. Here.” Spencer said very clearly. “She went to her parent’s house in Baltimore for the holiday. Now why don’t you three leave and discuss the matter with her when she returns.”

“Or what?” The man in front of him read as dumb jock, he had two of his friends here to back him up. “Why the fuck do you care, huh? You the guy she’s been fucking around with behind my back or something? Huh?” They advanced menacingly.

But Spencer knew how to deal with this sort. He stood his ground and flashed his badge. “No, I’m the one who’s about to have you arrested. Do you really want assaulting an FBI agent on top of drunk and disorderly?” The badge slowed them just enough for the DC Metro cops that had finally arrived to get in there and make the arrest.

Not long after Spencer was up in the third floor apartment with a very shaken Elena. “Thank you.” She said when they were finally alone. “I called the cops but they said it would take time to get to me and they sounded more and more violent and I was just afraid....” She winced and shook harder.

“Shhh, it’s all right. I don’t mind. Come here.” It seemed the right thing to do, to pull her into his arms then and hold her while she shook.

She rested against him, warm and alive, and he fought the urge to rest his cheek on her hair. She smelled of some kind of flower, gardenia maybe, or jasmine, or some kind of flower all her own. “You’re my hero you know.”

“I called DC Metro again.” While he had not formally asked for backup the implication had been enough to bump her to the top of the response queue. That was all that had really been needed. He’d only come out here to...why had he come out here?

“Still,” she looked up at him and smiled. “When Lisa gets back she is going to find a new place, and I am going to find a new roommate.”

He nodded. “Good idea.”

Elena finally managed to look up at him and smile. “I know it’s late but can I at least make my hero a cup of tea?”

“Sure.” He settled on one of her kitchen stools as she went to put the kettle on. All of a sudden tonight was wonderful.

* * *

 

Two months after the cycle of disappearances stopped it started up again.

* * *

 

.

* * *

 

 **Note:** More sci-fi/horror. Entirely unrelated to any of my other stories.

This chapter is set between January 2009 to January 2010 and covers the time between Episode 05x01 “Nameless, Faceless” (which was set the day after their return from the case in 04x25-26 “To hell...and back” and so the end of May 2009) and 05x12 “The Uncanny Valley” which is the first time we see Reid without his cane. Hopefully I can keep the calendar accurate as we go.

Despite the list of warnings up there I have yet to find a need to create a sub-story for any real bad parts so I don’t think it’s that bad. It’s certainly not as bad as some of my others.

\- TKL


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Second year**

Spencer sighed as he looked at the file in his hands.He hated to admit it, it was incredibly dehumanizing to the victims, but he had begun to use alphanumeric designations to help him see the pattern.

Every victim had been gone exactly ninety days.Every victim had been returned with the same odd tube tucked under the skin of their abdomens.Every victim had simply disappeared without a trace.In the first group victims 1a through 1d had been found dead of a sodium Phenobarbital overdose, their bodies in nearly perfect condition, with multiple track marks in one arm and chafing on that wrist.Victims 1e-1g had been found cremated.

Now they were on to group two, and so far victims 2a-2e had been found in the same condition as victims 1a-1d.Once again there were three people missing.And once again they were in the woods looking for the body of a missing person, this time a high school senior, a member of a nearby high school football squad who went into the woods on a dare.

All of a sudden his radio crackled to life.“We found him!”Emily called out triumphantly.“He’s alive!”A murmur of excitement went through their search group.“We need a medic at...no!”

The sound of a gunshot led them all to their location.

* * *

 

“You’re decontaminating my people.”Hotch said to Dr. Kimura, a thankfully familiar face in all of this.“I need to know what’s going on.”

“Sorry Agent Hotchner.”Dr. Kimura replied as he looked off at the cordoned off area where JJ and Emily were getting scrubbed down.“They aren’t even telling me this time.I’ll get you a copy of the report as soon as they give me one.If they give me one.”

* * *

 

“OK, that sucked.”JJ said as she and Emily sagged into chairs back at the Sheriff’s office.They were both rosy and damp and exhausted from scrubbing.

“I know.”Spencer smiled and handed them each a mug of tea.

“Why is Homeland suddenly worried about some kind of disease now?”Morgan asked.“No one said anything before.And nothing came up on the pathology reports.”

“This is not Homeland.”Emily said.“This is someone else.I think this is hitting so high up that department names don’t really matter much.”

“We have to call them something.”JJ said.

“Why don’t you start at the beginning?”Rossi said.

“We walked around this clump of trees and there he was.”Emily said.“Stretched out on his back, shaking, looking around like he didn’t know where he was.”

“Did you see him through the trees?”Hotch asked.

“No.”

“No.”

“He was naked.”Emily continued.“He looked emaciated, you could see his ribs. There was obvious bruising on his body.But he was awake, he was talking.He was disoriented but he knew we were there.”

“What did he say?”Morgan asked.

“No more.He grabbed at my arm and looked me in the eye and said no more, I can’t. I can’t.That’s when I pulled out my radio and called it in.”

“I turned to get a space blanket out of my pack.”JJ said.“He was shivering, I was concerned about shock.That’s when he got my gun out of my holster.”

“There was no hesitation.”Emily continued.“He pulled it out, stuck it in his mouth and fired.”She sighed as she remembered the moment.

“We know.”Rossi put a comforting hand on her shoulder as Morgan pulled JJ into his arms.“I know we grumble about mandatory counseling, but this time you both should.”

“Yeah”

“Yeah”

Spencer had been frowning at the board this entire time.“What did Homeland say?”

“They said we were cleared, but they want us to have blood tests drawn in seven days.”JJ said.“Why?”

“Do we still have blood samples in the forensic lab?”

“Homeland confiscated them.”Hotch said.“Why?”

“Damn it.”Spencer said.“JJ, just to be on the safe side maybe you shouldn’t go home just yet.”

“What’s going on Spence?”

“Just a hunch, but better safe than sorry.”

“You can stay with me if you want.”Emily said.“I have a comfortable couch.”

“Thanks”.

* * *

 

“Jack Martin.”Rossi said as everyone read along, “Nineteen, freshman in community college, went out with some friends to drink, sleep with his girl and dare the aliens to take him, or so said his friends.Headed off to water a tree and never came back.”

“Can’t they keep the area closed off?”Morgan said.

“An area that size?”JJ replied.“It’s too big.Determined people will always find a way in.”

“As you can see from the report he has marks consistent with sado-masochistic torture.”Rossi said.“The rape kit came back with multiple sources and layers of bruising consistent with multiple events.”

“Multiple sources,” Emily said.“Are we dealing with more than one Unsub?”

“Or maybe the Unsub shared and the others didn’t know the whole story.”Morgan said

“And it looks like the Unsub removed his....”JJ looked up, wondering if she was really seeing it.

“I believe the technical term is a double _orchiectomy_ , the removal of both testicles.”Spencer said.“From the level of testosterone in his blood it was done less than a month ago.”

“What’s this?”Hotch indicated a photograph of a scar on the victim’s body, right above the base of his penis.

“This says it’s a burn scar.”Spencer said, “Some kind of symbol, maybe a brand.”

“Everything speaks to animals, except the rape.”Rossi said.“Maybe that’s how the Unsub sees them, as animals.”

“I was thinking that.”Spencer said.

“Does this fit that theory of yours?”

“No.”

“Too bad.”

* * *

 

Two days after their follow up blood tests Emily and JJ were given clean bills of health.Everyone was relieved.

As they expected based on the pattern there were no disappearances that month.

* * *

 

“Agent Jareau.”It was Strauss, barely making a courtesy knock on her door.

“Chief.”JJ replied, keeping it very neutral.

Strauss stepped in and closed the door.“I’ve heard the Pentagon has offered you a position.”

Oh hell.“Yes, they have.”

“And you turned them down.”

“Yes, I did.”

“Why?”

“I’m perfectly comfortable where I am.I’m not looking for a new position.”

Of course it couldn’t be that simple.“They’ve asked me to speak to you, you’re needed over there.”

“I’m sure there are dozens of people with my skills who would be more than capable in that post.I’ll thank them again but I am still not interested.”

“We’ll see.”

JJ shuddered as Strauss left her.

 

* * *

Later Spencer would be glad that there was a break, that they didn’t have this on top of everything else going on.

JJ was gone.

JJ was gone as in really gone.As in not even Will seemed to know where she had been assigned.And while he and Will had always been friendly he could sense that Will just didn’t want him around.

It wasn’t until one last, awkward visit with Henry and Garcia that he mentioned what was going on.“Will was treating me, I don’t know, strangely, wasn’t he?”

“I want to say no more strangely than usual.”Garcia said as she sat down with her coffee.“But yeah, he seems almost intimidated by you.”

“By me?”

“I don’t get it either.”

* * *

 

Once again, ninety days after her disappearance the next victim was found, this time dead and...”Frozen?”Emily asked.

“Yep,” the coroner said.“It looks like they tossed the body in a freezer, probably for disposal later.”

“How did she die?”Hotch asked.

“Strangulation.Probably from one of her rapists.There are layers of bruising indicating someone did it often.”

“Great.”Emily said as she sighed.

* * *

 

“Did you ever feel like you were born in the wrong time?”Elena asked.

Spencer looked up from his notes, over the milkshakes and fries that dotted the table between them.Technically, on the official books, Alex Blake was still Elena’s doctoral advisor.But her work really was so multidisciplinary that he had offered to help out.Besides, it let him spend more time with her; like what were becoming their twice-weekly lunch meetings, work permitting.“Most of the time,” he admitted.“What time do you think you should have been born in?”

“I don’t know.Sometime in the late 1800’s I think.Back before the World Wars, when the world was still somewhat of a mystery.When you could still find new cultures and new places to explore.”She poked at a puddle of ketchup with a French fry.“What about you?”

“Hmmm, the Gilded Age I think.I know there were a lot of issues with poverty and class separation...”

“Which we totally have now.Hmmm, let me see, the Pre-Raphaelites, Art Nouveau, Bohemianism, the Bloomsbury Group, Dr Reid!”She was grinning.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t the thing but yes, he did feel like he was born in the wrong time.“I know.I know. But there was also a lot more respect for multi-disciplinary experts back then.”

“A lot more respect for experts period.I mean, who was the big super hero back then, Sherlock Holmes?”She gave him a look that was hard to read.

“What?”

“Nothing.So about this paper from Dutord....”

* * *

 

Two weeks and back-to-back cases later Spencer found a package on his desk. _You are not allowed to discuss this, or laugh._ Said the note.

He opened it up to find a folder from one of those places that let you dress up in historic costumes and take almost silly photographs.He couldn’t help the laughing when he looked, even as he was charmed.Elena looked utterly lovely as Irene Adler.

* * *

 

The following month the third appeared this one a high school student noted for having disappeared off a crowded school bus driving along the edge of the park.No one saw anything.“Frozen again,” Morgan noted.“And cut like the other guy from this cluster.Cause of death?”

“Perforated colon,” the coroner said.“They worked him over something awful.”

* * *

 

Now there was a break in the pattern.

“How long do you think it will take him to start up again?”Emily asked

No one knew for sure.

* * *

 

“Emily, you are not going to believe this.”Ahhh yes.Spencer pulled a bottle of cold water out of the fridge.

“No?”

“They’re showing _Solaris_ tonight.The Original.In the theaters.Do you want to go?”

“Did Morgan put you up to this?”

“What?”

“Did Morgan tell you to call me?”

No, but he had said that Emily was acting weird.“No, Morgan would have no idea what _Solaris_ is.”

“So, uhh, you just called me out of the blue.”

Not really, he thought, I want to get you out and relaxed so you can tell me what’s going on and maybe I can help.“Well, I mean the original one’s in Russian so really you and I are the only ones that can really enjoy it.”

“Isn’t _Solaris_ like, four hours long?”

“It’s five, the best Sci-fi meditation film of all time, but for some reason they never really show it in the theaters.Do you want to go with me?”

“Sorry handsome, I’m going to have to pass.I’m just going to hang out with Sergio tonight.”

Ahhh, maybe that was it.“Ohhh shoot.I didn’t realize that...”

“Relax Reid.Sergio is my new cat.But, um, thank you.”

“For what?”

“For being you.”

Okay, that was a strange thing to say.But Emily’s voice was entirely normal.“Aww thanks.I don’t know how to be anyone else.”And he had no desire to try.

“Yeah.That’s what I love about you.”

“Bye.”Morgan was right, Emily was acting weird.

Garcia met up with him in the elevator lobby on the way out.“Where are you off to?”

“ _Solaris_ is showing in the theater.Five hours of the best sci-fi meditation move ever.”

“And you’re going alone?”

“I asked Emily but she’s staying in tonight.”

“Emily?Come on, isn’t there anyone, like, girlfriend quality you can ask?”

“I don’t....know....”Well... did he dare?

She brightened.“Who?Oh my god, Reid, who?”

Did he?“If you’ve had coffee, lunch and working dinners with someone multiple times a week over a one year, eight month period would that be too soon to ask them to the movies?”

Garcia laughed.“I would say that was almost too late.Call her.Call her right now.”

Ummm....oh boy.He pulled out her phone and called her.“Hi, Elena?”

“Hey Spence.”Her soft voice practically sang over the phone.

“I know this is last minute but how’s your Russian?”

“Otlichno . Ya svobodno . Pochemu ?”

She was fluent.Outstanding.“ _Solaris_.In the original, at the Palace tonight.”

She gave a squeak of excitement.“Really?I will so meet you there!”

“Really?You’ll go out with me?”

“Go out with you?You mean, like a date-date?”Spencer’s brain hung up for a moment.“Because if it is I totally accept.”

“Really?”Okay, maybe the entire planet hung up for a second.

“Absolutely.”

“All right, I’ll meet you there.”He hung up and stood there, blinking.

“Take her to Chadwick’s for dinner after.”Garcia said.

“Right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some dialogue taken from Criminal Minds 06x14 “Sense Memory”. No copyright infringement intended.
> 
> This chapter covers from January 2010 to early February, 2011 when episode 06x14 aired


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Year Three**

 

“You’re late.”Garcia said as Spencer finally made it in.He had been late less than a handful of times, he had some leeway.“Please tell me your date last night became your date this morning.”

“Date last night?”How did Morgan just appear there, coffee in hand, ready for the story?

“Not quite that far.”Spencer said, “Mostly.”

“Mostly?”

“We didn’t get home until two.”

“Tell me you did not just leave her at her door.”Morgan said.Spencer gave him one of those looks.“You just left her at her door.”

“Tell me you at least got a kiss out of it.”Garcia said.His ears started burning.“Oh my god, you totally did.Awwe!”

It hadn’t been much of a kiss.It hadn’t been anything like, say, Lila trying to climb him in the pool.But it was real and gentle and utterly, wonderfully memorable.Even thinking about it now made his head spin.“I am not talking about that.”

“Tell me you are taking her out again this week-end.”Morgan said.

“No, she already made plans to go camping with friends this week-end if the weather holds.”Spencer sighed.They loved him and wanted him happy, that’s why they were not leaving him alone.“But among other things she is also loves classic horror movies.I’m taking her to the Lon Chaney Film Festival on Tuesday.”

“And dinner?”Garcia asked.

“I just need to find the right place.”Something nicer than burgers this time.

Morgan nodded approvingly.“That we can help you with,” he said.“That’s my man.”

* * *

 

“Do we have a name?”Rossi asked later.

He, Morgan and Garcia were meeting in the Goddess’s Lair later for a bit of snooping.Emily ought to have joined them but for some reason she cut out early.“Elena” Garcia said.“Searching for an Elena who is anywhere in Reid’s sphere who knows Russian....here we go.Elena Rosen, 27, PhD candidate in Anthropology over at Georgetown.Oh, she’s cute.”

“Please tell me she has a clean background.”

Garcia ran a quick check, “Yep, spotless.Not so much as a parking ticket.Awww, poor thing is an orphan.”

“How?”Morgan asked.

“World Trade Center, her folks worked for Cantor Fitzgerald.It was her freshman year; they gave her a scholarship to go as far as she wanted.”

“Tough to be alone at that age,” Rossi said.

“Good thing she’s got a Doctor to keep her from being lonely now.”Morgan replied.

* * *

 

“So, Elena...”Gary said, “What color undies did you pack?”

Elena Rosen groaned and wondered why the hell she had even bothered to come on this trip.Right, because her roommate Heather begged.Turned out said roommate and her boyfriend had brought another woman and three other guys with them, along with a trunk full of alcohol.This was not a place for a woman who was not fond of drinking, or who was holding out for romance and commitment.“Why do you care Gary, you’re not going to see them.”

“Awww.”

Great, Gary was drunk already.This gathering was already heading downhill.Could she get a signal on her phone?

“Come on, loosen up Elena.”Zack, Heather’s boyfriend came up and tried to lead her back to the group.“You like scary movies, right?”

“Yeah.Why?”

“Because there’s supposed to be some crazy guy out in these woods,” Zack said that like it was supposed to be funny.“He’s killing people like animals.”

“Lovely.”Yep, she was done.Hopefully Spencer wouldn’t think less of her if she called him for a rescue a second time.Why couldn’t more guys be like him, intelligent, mature, gentle...She started walking away again.

“Don’t wander off!”Zack called after her.“The bad guys will get you!”

Elena shook her head and kept walking along the stream, hoping for any number of bars.She couldn’t even say she was ever in to the partying scene, now she was so far out it was like another universe.Of all things she wished she was home working on her paper.No, she wished she was over at Good Bean with Spencer talking over her paper.Maybe, once he rescued her, he’d actually come in given that her roommate would be here and not there.They could get comfortable on the couch, maybe she could get him to kiss her again...

No bars.Damn it!

She turned to head back to the group.Just then a bright, multi-colored sparkle in the grass caught her eye.

* * *

 

“You have the worst luck with women.”Garcia said, gently.

Elena Rosen, 27, a grad student at Georgetown, reported missing by her friends on a camping trip in the Green Ridge State Forest.Spencer felt his heart start falling.“I’m too close to this.”He told Hotch.“Take me off the case.”

“We need you on this one.”Hotch replied.“Can you be objective?”

I might be able to get her home, he thought.“Yes.”

“All right.”

* * *

 

The next month no one went missing.“Maybe we finally cleaned out the woods.”Morgan said.

No one else missing meant no more data.Spencer managed to stay objective, even though he woke screaming for her every night.

* * *

 

And then Emily was gone.Not just somewhere else, _gone_.

And of course The Powers That Be turned JJ right around and sent her back to wherever she’d been assigned.

Spencer started sleeping on Alex Blake’s couch more often than not.When he explained what he was trying to avoid she started planning on him for breakfast in the morning.

* * *

 

At the ninety day mark after Elena’s disappearance the woods were full of people.No one had been taken two months before her and no one had gone missing since.Now no one found her body.Or her remains.Or any mysterious tubes.“This could be an unrelated case.”Hotch said.“We need to send it over to Missing Persons.”

That was when Spencer tucked her away in his heart with Emily.

* * *

 

It took roughly three months from the date of Elena’s disappearance for someone to be taken again, making a six month gap in total.“What is triggering this guy?”Rossi asked as they came in from one case only to have this one come around again.

“Not a clue.”Morgan shook his head.“It’s not climate related.There’s nothing in the news.About the only commonality is geography, people go in to the park and they don’t come out.”

“In each case the victims break down into two clusters.”Spencer said.“The first arrive back dead from a sodium Phenobarbital overdose.They’re in perfect condition, have track marks on one arm only and bruising around that wrist.The shift to a second cluster occurs in the same month the disappearances stop.In each case it’s only the last three victims; the first cluster was cremated, the second sexually tortured, killed and frozen.”

“And there’s never any sign of the Unsub.”Rossi said.“No footprints, no vehicle tracks, nothing forensic.It’s like they appear and disappear out of thin air.The only things we have are those tubes and Homeland, or whoever, is keeping them for themselves.”

“I wonder how many will be in the first cluster this time.”Hotch said.

* * *

 

There were seven in the first cluster this time.

When the eighth came back the search team took one whiff and came for the FBI.The FBI took one whiff and called in Homeland.“What chemical do you think that is?”Seaver asked.

“No clue.”Spencer said.“But whatever it is it looked like it preserved the body.Hopefully we can get a good coroner’s report off of it this time.”

* * *

 

“Ross Dawson, 42.”Rossi said, reading from the report.“A local construction worker who just had to go fishing, warnings be dammed.According to this he was in perfect health when he died.”

“How did he die?”Seaver asked.

“Inhalation of an unknown substance, apparently whatever he was soaking in.Homeland has of course redacted any identification of the substance.The coroner said it looked similar to chlorine damage.Here’s another interesting point, he was not wearing the clothes he left in.”

“That’s different.What was he wearing?’

“A plain blue jumpsuit and rubber boots; the coroner said it looked like a work uniform.”

“Homeland took it?”

“Of course.”

There were no disappearances that month.

* * *

 

“JJ,” Spencer stopped her on her way out of Rossi’s house.As betrayed as he felt, he still felt, unit cohesion was a bigger issue.The work they did was too important to tear it apart over his feelings on the matter.So he set those feelings aside and came to Rossi’s for pasta carbonara and wine and tried to feel whole again.“I wanted to say I’m sorry, for my outburst the other day.It was entirely out of line.”

JJ stopped and looked at him.For a moment she looked so regretful and so sorry and so hurt he just wanted to pull her into his arms and tell her that everything would be okay, no great harm was done.But then, as he watched, this cold wall seemed to come over her.He watched her grow hard and tough and rigid right before his eyes.“It’s all right Spence.I understand.Friends?”

“Friends,” but he just could not leave this alone.“JJ, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.Why would anything be wrong?”

* * *

 

The next month another high school kid was returned.Josh Morrison, 17.He was also soaked in that mystery substance, also in work clothes, also died from inhaling poison, but his condition was different.“Torture?”JJ asked

“Possibly,” Hotch replied.

“He has a number of what look like burn scars over his face, arms and torso, like someone traced over him with a hot chunk of metal.His hair was cut short and even scraped off in a number of places, it looks like both cheekbones and his jawbone were broken, probably from a fight, and he’s missing two teeth.”Morgan said. “Someone messed this boy up.Why?”

“Any sign of rape?”Rossi asked.

“Nope.No sign of penetration anyway.”

“Oh, for God’s sake!”JJ said.“I just want a pattern!”

They all did

* * *

 

Spencer was sitting at a chess table in the park, waiting on Eric, when he saw a familiar figure running down the path.He waved and she stopped.“Hey JJ, I didn’t know you were working out.”

“Yeah, I’m on my way to meet Morgan at the dojo.”

Huh?“Martial arts?”

“Yeah, I’m learning some fighting moves.”

“Why?”

She shrugged.“I guess I just want to be more of an asset to the team, you know.”

“You are an asset to the team.”

“I don’t know Spence, I just feel like I need to.And I need to get going, see you Monday.”

“Yeah, see you.”Spencer watched her run off.He didn’t know what changed, but whatever it was felt vastly wrong.

* * *

 

The third victim, the last in the year 3 cluster, a middle aged hunter, came back the same as the first.Perfect health, killed by inhaled poison.

* * *

 

One late night Morgan saw a light on in the room they had dedicated to this case.“Go home.”He said.

“I can’t.”Spencer said.“There’s a pattern here.I know it.I know I know what he’s doing with them.At least with the first cluster.I just can’t....”

“Go home.Relax.Watch something nerdy.”

“Morgan, this Unsub has killed twenty-five people over a three year period.That makes him the fifth most prolific serial killer in the US.And we’re not even close to stopping him.”And if I could figure it out, he thought, we might find out what happened to Elena

“I know.But working yourself to exhaustion is not going to help.When was the last time you had a vacation?”

“What’s a vacation?”

Morgan shook his head.“I know it’s hard, man.Have you talked to someone about this?

This.  Elena.Spencer couldn’t even consider the possibility.It would open that vast pit of ache that he could not handle.“I’m fine.”

“Come on.”Morgan grabbed Spencer’s bag and his elbow.“Go home and at least consider a vacation.”

* * *

 

Late one night Spencer’s phone rang.“Hey JJ, what’s up?”

It was not JJ.“Mommy and Daddy are fighting.”Henry said.

This was not the first time Henry had called.“Are they?I bet that’s real scary.”

“Uh huh.”

“I’ll tell you what, you climb into bed and I’ll tell you stories until you fall asleep so you don’t have to listen to them.”

“Okay.”

* * *

 

It was three months before it started again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: This story runs from February 2011, they day after the events in 06x14 “Sense Memory” to February 2012, taking in 07X02 “Proof” along the way.
> 
> I know that someone is going to point out that in 07x02 “Proof” Spencer said that he had been on JJ’s couch crying every night for ten weeks after Emily left. The problem is that in 09x14 “200” they said that JJ went back to Afghanistan after Emily’s death where she lost the baby. So either Spencer was crying on Will’s shoulder, which I find unlikely, or he was commuting to Kandahar every night after work. For the purposes of this story it works better to go with the 09x14 version of events, so I set him to mourning on Alex Blake’s couch instead.
> 
> Feel free to speculate over the case in the comments.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Year Four**

 

“You all right there, Dr. Reid?”Emily asked as she pulled him off to the side to dance.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Not regretting the one that got away?”

Spencer looked over at where JJ was dancing with Hotch, resplendent in her wedding dress.“No, not at all.”

“Uh huh.Try again.”

He smiled.“No, it’s not that.Do It’s really not my business but...

“Uh uh, spill.”

“It just seems like JJ has been taking on the alpha role in the family, and really at work lately and...”

“...it doesn’t really suit her.”

“Yeah.You noticed too?”

“Oh yeah.I just don’t know what to do about it.”

“Neither do I.”

* * *

 

 

He wasn’t sure about Emily leaving for London.He hated it when friends left his life.

On the other hand, it meant two whole months without Morgan’s insecurities.And Alex Blake joined the team.Not that he had to look out for her, but it was good having another friend to go around with.

* * *

 

_Dear Dr. Bell..._

* * *

 

Spencer was just writing to his mystery correspondent, sitting at his desk across from Blake, waiting for her so they could car pool, when Hotch came down the stairs.“We have another disappearance.”

For some reason it just clicked.“Green Ridge?”Spencer asked.

“Yes.”

“Isn’t that where Elena went missing?”Blake asked.

Spencer started packing up.“Yes.I’ll brief you on the way.”

* * *

 

In May it was a determined photographer who wasn’t reported missing right off.In June it was a college kid whose friends said they didn’t hear the warnings.In July it was an elderly woman out hunting wild herbs.

Now it was August and once again they were out scouring the woods, looking for the photographer, due back now that his time was up.They expected him to be in perfect condition, painlessly killed. “I know there’s a pattern.”Spencer said as he walked along.“I know it’s there.”

“You know you should have taken a vacation Spence.”JJ said.“Maybe if you had relaxed it would have come to you.”

“Maybe.”She sounded cranky and short.But then she did more and more these days.“How was the honeymoon?”She had taken a fair bit of built up leave time, had come back just in time to join them out here.

“Amazing.We really needed the break.And apparently I rock a bikini.”

Spencer decided he wasn’t going to think about that.

They hiked along in silence a while, never too far from the others.Then, “What’s that?”JJ asked.

“What?”Spencer replied.

She moved over to the base of a tree and picked up an object.It was a tube, about the size of the core of a roll of paper towels, covered in some bright, sparkling rainbow glass.“It’s heavy.”She said.He held it out to Reid.“There’s some kind of code on it.”

“It looks like dichroic glass.”Spencer said.He took the other end of the tube and turned it so he could look at the writing.As he did he saw a sliver of grey under the glass and he felt a tingling.All of a sudden it clicked and his eyes went wide.

“What is it?”JJ asked.

Spencer pulled his gun, pointed it at the earth, and started firing.

* * *

 

“How many shots did they get off?”Hotch asked

“Three from the looks of it Reid’s gun,” Rossi replied.

“They were surrounded.”Blake insisted.“We came running.We were here in seconds.There’s no way the Unsub could have gotten them away.”

“I know.”Hotch said.

“If anyone can survive those two can.”Rossi said.

“How?”Blake asked

Hotch sighed.“We’ll know in ninety days.”  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: This chapter runs from May of 2012, taking in the events of 07X24 “Run” to the first part of August 2012, right after Alex Blake joined the team and while Morgan and Garcia were in London with Emily at the 2012 Summer Olympics (July 27-August 12) as they stated in 08X01 “The Silencer”.
> 
> And since I like casting my stories and should have put this on the first chapter, meet Kaya Scodelario as Elena Rosen before she disappeared.
> 
> http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/multimedia/archive/00247/99631677_scodelario_247471c.jpg
> 
> Now, time for some thrilling heroics.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 – Infection
> 
> If you get an infection, you get a fever; the fever is your body dealing with the infection. If you get traumatized, your mind and your brain have a reaction to that trauma. If you're not dreaming about it, something's probably wrong.
> 
> \- Sebastian Junger

**Chapter 5**

**Day 01**

One moment they were standing in the lovely, temperate woods of the Green Mountain National forest on a pleasantly warm fall day.Then everything went dark.

There was a sense of moving very, very fast, of rushing, and it grew cold enough to freeze.

A moment later he was thrown on to the ground and the world spun around him.

“What the hell?”JJ cried out.“Spence?”

“Yeah, I’m here.”He got up, dusted off and looked up at the trees above him.

Those were not the right trees above him.

“What happened?”JJ said.“What was that thing?”

Spencer only half heard her.He was too busy examining a plant structure that looked like nothing he had ever seen before.To the casual observer it was just a tree, but to anyone really looking it did not belong... “I think it was a wormhole.”

“A what?Morgan!Hotch!”She started calling out.

“They can’t hear us JJ.”

“Why not?”Suddenly there was a loud pop and she fell.

“JJ!”He went down beside her to see what happened.

She grabbed her leg and looked.Sticking out of the back of her thigh was a large, metallic dart.“The Unsub.”She said.As he watched her eyes dilated and she slumped over, unconscious.

“JJ?”He got the dart out and caught her as she slumped over.“JJ?”He heard another pop and felt a sharp sting to his shoulder.And then the sky spun over him.

* * *

 

Sometime later Spencer sat up and looked around.He was lying on a platform made of rough, probably reclaimed wood.He was in a room with two walls made of earth topped with neatly assembled brick and narrow, wire lined windows.Two walls made of some kind of cinder block, quickly put together by the state of the mortar.There was a small gap between each of those and the ceiling. On one side was a standpipe with a faucet of unfamiliar design over a break in the concrete to let the water run back into the earth.On the other was what looked to be a squat toilet, which would hopefully flush. In one wall there was a steel door, a prison door, with a pass at floor level and a rectangular hole.A chain ran from a narrow cuff around his wrist out the hole.He was only missing his jacket and gun, and his sleeve on that side had been cut off mid-bicep.

No, he was missing one other thing.“JJ?”He called out.

“Spence,” came the familiar voice from the other side of the empty cinder block wall.“Thank god.You okay?”

“Yeah.”Spencer was very glad he was wearing his glasses today.He took them off and polished them on the hem of his shirt and found that his vision improved immensely.“You?”

“Yeah.Are you chained up?”

“One arm?”

“Yeah.Do you have a lump under your skin?”

Spencer lifted his shirt and felt the lump of the tube under his skin, traced the small slit where it had been inserted, now sealed closed but still red and sore.He swallowed as the thought of something inside him nearly made him ill.“Yeah.”

“Does this make any sense to you?”

“Almost.”He got up to prowl around a bit.There was a small metal shelf in that opening.“Are we the only ones here?”

“No.Brian Jenkins is in the cell next to mine.”

Brian Jenkins, 19, a college student, worked at Hollister stores as a kind of a fashion model.He and his friends hadn’t heard the warning, or hadn’t connected them with where they were going to camp.He’d been missing about 60 days.“Why not Ella Brown?”She’d been gone only thirty days.

“It sounds like she was having heart trouble.Looks like the Unsub sent her back early in exchange for us.”

“She was 87.I’m going to try something.”

“What?”

The walls were rough enough, he was tall enough and light enough, and there was ample slack in the chain.Spencer decided to chance it.He got the best grip he could, planted one foot on and in that hole in the door and hoisted.Sure enough he was able to look out over the front wall into the main room.“JJ?”He called down, a note of fear in his voice.

“Yeah?”

“I can see the main room.”

“And?”

“It’s some kind of laboratory, biological from the looks of it.”Those were test tubes; that was obviously a refrigerator; that had to be used to incubate samples...“I think I can explain the first clusters now.”

“Oh?”

“We’re lab animals.”

“What?”

“The Unsub has been using the victims as lab animals.Ask Brian if the Unsub has been injecting him or taking blood.”

There was murmuring for a moment.“He said he thinks he’s been taking blood every day.But he injected him the day he got here.”

The pieces in Spencer’s head started coming together.“He’s testing some kind of disease process, observing the development of it.”

“How do you know?”

“He injects once and then checks daily, observing the course of the sickness.That tube we picked up in the woods; that’s how he’s getting people here.Our victims all saw one, got curious and picked it up.”

“How are they getting back?”

“The tubes inside us somehow.I could go into the physics....”

“No, Spencer, please.Not now.Why ninety days?”

“I think it has an incubation period of ninety days.After that the test subject will become either critically ill or contagious, so he terminates the subject humanely.”

“And then he sends it to us.Bio-warfare?”

“No.That would require observation and escalation.There’s no sign of either.”

“Then why send us back?Why take us in the first place?”

“Why do you capture an animal for use in the lab rather than...buying one?”Spencer said.Why would I do that?“To avoid a regulatory agency.That also explains why he sends his subjects back instead of cremating them here for safety.If he brought us straight to these cells and sent us back from them then there would be no evidence that we were ever here, only his notes and samples.”

“And those would be easy to hide.”JJ said.“But you can’t hide a crematorium.It makes sense.This is some kind of illegal lab.That would also explain the timeline.If he was caught he’d have to set up again, find a new spot.That takes time.What do you think he’s testing?”

“A prion.”

“A what?”

“A prion is an infectious agent composed of protein in a misfolded form.Prions are responsible for the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies in a variety of mammals, including bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as "mad cow disease”. In humans, prions cause Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, Gerstmann–Sträussler–Scheinker syndrome, Fatal Familial Insomnia and kuru.Although often viewed in the context of infectious disease, prions are more loosely defined by their ability to catalytically convert other native state versions of the same protein to an infectious conformational state. It is in this latter sense that they can be viewed as epigenetic agents capable of inducing a phenotypic change without a modification of the genome”

“Where are you getting that?”

“Prions are not transmitted through usual mechanisms, air, blood, water.In humans they are usually transmitted by ingesting the brains or nervous tissue of an infected animal.A coroner would protect themselves against that as standard protocol.”

JJ was quiet a moment.“But Emily and I got splattered when that guy shot himself.I didn’t lick my lips, at least I don’t think I did.”She said finally.“Whoever’s been hampering our investigation through Homeland knows about this.”

“It probably takes seven days to start to appear in the blood.They were checking for the first signs of infection.”Spencer agreed.The more he thought about it the more he started to panic.Without realizing he had climbed down from the wall and now he started pacing, the chain rattling behind him.

“Are you okay Spence?”

“You know I stopped eating ground meat because of the inherent danger of nerves being put in with the rest of the scraps during the butchering process.”

“Spence...”

“Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease pokes holes in brain tissue, JJ.It turns it in to Swiss cheese.”

“Spencer...”

“This is my primal nightmare and I don’t know if I can...”

“Spence!Just stop!I know, all right!”She was quiet a long moment.“What if I can’t go back to Henry?”

Henry.  Will.She had a lot to lose here.And he was worried about brain damage.He had to pull it together.“You said it yourself; someone back home knows what we’re dealing with.They might not have a solution now but when we get back I’ll work with them on it.We’ll find a solution.”

“Get back?You mean get out of here?”

Spencer stopped at that.“JJ do you have any idea where we are?”

The other cell was quiet a moment, then she sighed.“You’re about to say another planet or another dimension, something like that, aren’t you?”

“Something like that.”

“O-kay, that is more than I can handle right now.We have these timer things in now, right”

“Yeah.”

“So in ninety days we go home, no matter what.Then we go into quarantine and figure this out.All we have to do is survive until we get there.That means we need a weapon of some kind.”

That was an easy one.“Gideon always said our greatest weapon is a good profile.”They heard a door out in the main room and footsteps.“And here’s our chance.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**Day 01**

 

There was one problem with the whole ‘profile the Unsub’ part of the plan. “Hey,” JJ called out loudly. “Hey. Talk to us, please! We need to know what you want.”

In the meantime Spencer scaled the door again. “He’s humanoid, JJ. In fact he looks human.”

“Yeah?”

The man on the other side was short, kind of pudgy, and balding, with thick glasses and a moustache. He was taking off a suit coat and swapping it for some kind of lab coat, only in grey, not the usual white.   There could still be differences at the cellular level, but from what he could see their captor was near to human.   “Yeah.”

“Please talk to us.” JJ called out again. “We’re not animals. My name is JJ Jareau, I’m a police officer. I’m a newlywed. I have a young son at home. Talk to me.”

She repeated this sort of thing over and over as Spencer watched the man preparing some kind of equipment.  Finally he turned his head and yelled back at the door. “Eta'oiky! Bi joiaein aet nyisi!”

JJ was quiet a moment. “What did he just say?”

“I have no idea.” Spencer replied.

But that got the man’s attention. “Hih! Gin va'zt phsa'd nyisi!” He fetched a broom and started whacking it at the top of the wall, causing Spencer to jump down quickly. “Gin va'zt! Gin va'zt!”

Damn it all. Spencer sighed and rested his head on the cool metal of the door. Primal nightmare.

“We’re not going to get much of a profile if he doesn’t speak a language we know.” JJ said. She sounded angry; her fear was coming out as anger.

“I know. But we have to keep trying.”

“I don’t think I can do this Spence.”

The Unsub had been building a tray of injections. “We have to.”

“I know.”

They didn’t have a choice. He turned and walked as far away from the door as he could, trying to control his shaking. “Remember, no matter what happens we’re going through this together.”

“I know!”

“And when we get back our first stop is going to be at Desperados.”

“Desperados?”

“Best burgers in town.” He couldn’t do Chadwick’s anymore.

“Oh hells yes.”

Spencer managed a smile just as he heard some motor crank up just outside their doors. He heard her sounds of distress as the chain must have pulled her closer to the door. “No!” She said as she got there. “No, please don’t do this! Please don’t! Noooo”

He heard her small cry of pain and then the sound of her sobbing. “JJ?” A moment later the chain attached to his wrist went taut. No matter how hard he fought all he did was dig the cuff further into his wrist as he tried to fight the pull. “No!”

“Spence!”

Breathe. Breathe. Hard to do while he was trying not to panic and losing. The chain dragged his arm through the hole and onto the shelf where he felt the man out there tighten straps around it, holding it in place. He felt something tight go around his bicep, forcing his veins into start relief. And then he felt something cool wiped on his arm. “Please...”

“Shhhh raennri za'rph. Qoiaein ta'z.” The man said with a gentle, comforting tone.

And then the needle went into his arm.

I don’t know what it is, Spencer thought. I don’t know what it’s going to do to me. Everything is going to change now. I just don’t know. He couldn’t help it; he felt the hot tears rolling down his face as he remembered a dirty shack and the smell of burning fish and how a kindness turned out to be the worst thing in the world. It’s cold, he thought. He didn’t fully defrost the sample.

When his arm was released he landed in a ball on the floor and shook for a long time.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**Day 01**

By the time Spencer recovered from his bout of panic the light was shifting, starting to go down. “JJ?” He called.

“I’m here Spence.”

“You okay?”

“If you mean am I having some kind of reaction, no.”   She sounded heartbroken. “I wonder what will happen first.”

“For most prion based diseases the first symptoms are mostly emotional, depression, mood swings. After that comes loss of coordination, mostly.”

“Great.”

“Is Brian showing any symptoms yet? If we’re right he’s been incubating for about sixty days now.”

“Hang on.” He could hear her moving to the other wall to ask. After a bit she came back. “Not that he’s noticed. Depression, sure, but he just wants out of here.”

“Has he noticed any symptoms at all?”

He heard the sounds of her moving and coming back again. “He said he’s always warm, like he’s running a fever, and he notices the cold more as well but he doesn’t feel sick. His appetite has increased; he said it’s, like, tripled. And he keeps wishing he could run, he said he’s been working out for hours every day.”

“It’s sped up his metabolism. He’s generating more energy, wanting more food to replace what he’s burning off. Has his body fat gone down at all?”

She moved and came back. “He said he can’t tell; it was low to begin with. What does that mean?”

“I don’t know. Let me think about it for a while.”

Spencer stretched out on the makeshift bed and listened to her moving again. “That’s weird.” JJ said when she came back.

“What is?’

“He said he’s been having strange dreams.”

“Oh?”

“Of a guy, and he said he’s very not gay.”

“That is weird.”

“Could be just stress.”

“True. But we need to monitor every change, just in case. You never know what will matter.”

“Right.” As he lay there he noticed that one of the bricks in his wall was really a half brick, kind of a slapped on piece. And the mortar was not very good. He started feeling around under his makeshift bed for a loose nail. As he did JJ called out again. “Spence?”

“What?”

“The Unsub just opened the pass on the bottom of the door. And now he’s shoving two boxes through.”

Spencer sat up. Sure enough, a moment later the small pass through at the bottom of his door opened.   Two large wooden boxes were shoved through, the Unsub poking them through with a stick. They were attached to each other with two short pieces of rope, the second attached to ropes that ran back out the hole. When the Unsub closed the door of the pass the ropes fit into slots in the door. In that way he could pull them back out when he wanted.

“What do you think it is?” JJ asked.

“One way to find out.” He opened the top of the first and found that it was packed full of food. There was a covered plate in the center that was giving off a savory scent, and another cylinder that had its own rich scent, and various smaller containers of what looked like nuts and crackers and baked goods around the edges. The other container held a flat metal piece on the bottom that felt like it had been frozen, and things that ought to be kept cool, cheeses, spreads, what might be yogurt, fruit, salad greens. There was more in those two boxes than he could eat in a day. “I guess these are our daily rations.”

He heard JJ moving over and back again. “Uhhh, Brian says we get this twice a day.”

“Really?” There was no way he would ever eat that much. Ever. “I’m going to save back the non-perishable stuff.”

“Same here. Hot stuff first and then the perishable cold.” He heard the sounds of her going through the box. “At least we’re eating well.”

Spencer looked under the covered hot plate. It was some kind of stew on a bed of grain, one with lots of meat and savory gravy. The utensils weren’t the best, clearly chosen for their inability to be used as weapons, but they would do the job. Here’s to hoping we can actually eat this, he thought. “Is this what they mean by count our blessings?”

“Yeah.”

* * *

 

“She’ll make it.” Will said quietly.

Hotch was quiet a long moment. “I have to be honest.” He said. “We’re no closer to cracking this. The odds aren’t good.”

“That one guy made it.” Will replied. “It can be done. And if it can then JJ will, and she won’t eat a bullet when she gets here either. She’ll make it. I just don’t know what I’m going to tell Henry. He’s not gonna like his Momma being gone so long without being able to call.”

“I know.” Hotch sighed. “I shouldn’t say anything, but we’re...trying.”

That got a confused look from Will. “Trying what?”

“Someone in the government has been interfering with this investigation since the beginning. We’re trying to find out who so we can convince them to help.”

Will digested this and nodded. “I shouldn’t be surprised by this kind of thing anymore.”

“None of us should. I’ll keep you in the loop.”

“Thank you.”

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**Day 02**

“What the hell do you mean they’re missing?” Morgan and Garcia had flown back the moment they heard. Now Morgan was stalking around Hotch’s office like a confined panther waiting to kill.

“One moment they were within shouting range, the next they were gone.” Hotch said. “All we know is that they saw it coming, Reid got three shots off.”

“Or he was trying to alert us that it was going to happen.” Rossi said. “He aimed for the ground.”

Morgan paced around again. “Homeland knows something. Whoever is pulling Homeland’s strings knows something.”

“I know.” Hotch said.

“They need to tell us what the hell is going on!”

“They will.

* * *

 

_It was dark in the woods._

_It was dark in the woods but somehow he knew there was a path nearby, water. He moved to the stream and drank deeply, the water so cold he could feel it outline his throat._

_It was dark in the woods but there was light from the sky. He followed the stream down to a meadow and looked up at a sky full of stars, and a shattered collection of rocks where a moon should be._

_“There you are!”_

_He turned and saw her there, a darker place in the darkness. But when she moved he saw her, or at least enough of her. She was so beautiful, she truly was. He could feel the ache for her growing, centered in that hole that he tried to never consider when he was awake. “I’m here!”_

_“I’ve been calling for you! I’ve been waiting for so long!”_

_“I had to find my way.”_

_She was there, just there. He reached for her but somehow he couldn’t move. She was just beyond his fingertips. “Come find me.” She said._

_“I will.” He promised. “I will.”_

* * *

 

That day set the pattern for the rest of their time in the lab. The Unsub had arrived not long after the sun in the morning, pulling out the empty food boxes and replacing them with full. After that Spencer had climbed up only to see him checking some equipment and then leaving for the day. Brian and JJ spent the day talking and doing calisthenics. He had been diligently scraping the mortar out from around that half block.

Later in the afternoon the Unsub returned. He took blood samples, then Spencer watched as he worked on them. He found that as long as he stayed quiet the Unsub didn’t shoo him down from the top of the wall. About twelve hours after he replaced the food boxes in the morning he swapped them out in the evening. Then he turned out the lights and left again. Thankfully the lights on the equipment left a soft glow that kept it from being too dark to sleep. “You know, I almost wished I was down there with him.” He said quietly to JJ as he watched the Unsub work.

“Why?”

“I’m curious.” About what he had done to them, yes. But also about his lab technique, what data he was collecting. Why he was doing this in this way and not through sanctioned channels. What his life was like. It was all fascinating, and none of his questions were being answered.

“Spoken like a true scientist.”

* * *

 

**Day 03**

_He could smell her, that was the thing. Something like, like the sweetest flower, and the scent of the forest in her hair. “What’s happening to us?” He asked as he cupped the soft skin of her cheek._

_“Denil.” She said. “We’re changing into something new.”_

* * *

 

So far they felt perfectly healthy. There had been no physical effects at all. They had only noticed one symptom. Well, he had only noticed one symptom. “You said that Brian has been dreaming?”

“Let me ask.” JJ said. He heard her move away and after a time return. “Yeah. He said that he’s been having these really weird dreams.”

“Weird?”

“He’s been dreaming of a guy. He says he’s not gay but there’s this guy out there and he has to find him. He’s crazy in love with him and he has to get to him. He said that’s what he’s going to do when we get out of here.”

“I’ve been dreaming like that too.”

“Of a guy?”

“No. A woman. Have you been dreaming?” She was quiet. She was too quiet for too long. “It might be a symptom JJ.”

She was quiet a while more. “It’s not.”

* * *

 

It was the end of the day. Morgan was just walking up to Garcia’s lair when he heard her quiet sob. As he expected he walked in to find her staring at her screens, tears rolling down her face. “Nothing?”

“Nothing. Not a blip off their phones, not a hit on their credit cards, there’s nothing. They just disappeared. They’ve been gone for three days without a word.”

“I know.” Morgan sat next to her and started wiping off her cheeks. “They’re strong baby girl. They’re gonna make it.”

“But how do you know. We’ve only had one come back even alive and he was so messed up he...he...” Garcia whimpered again. “What if we find them just lying there in the woods like the others? Just...gone like that. What if we only find their ashes?”

“No way. I know those two. They’re fighters. They’re stronger than they look.”

“Isn’t there anything we can do?”

“Hotch and Rossi and Strauss are working on it.”

“Are working on what?”

“I don’t know. But I have faith.”

* * *

 

**Day 04**

_“Dance with me.” She said._

_She didn’t mean dance, he realized. Not really. “I don’t know how to dance.”_

_“Neither do I.” She admitted._

_“That’s not what you’re asking.”_

_He felt her shake her head, the soft passing of her silken hair over his chest. “Claim me.” She said._

_He caught those silken strands between his fingers. “I will.”_

* * *

 

“Is this the first sign of a prion affecting our brains?” JJ asked the next morning.

“Maybe. What did you dream of?”

“Nothing.” She said, too abruptly.

“JJ...”

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

* * *

 

Now it was the fourth day. And now something different happened.

The Unsub had just finished taking his samples. Spencer had just climbed up to look when there was a scraping at the door. The Unsub immediately looked alert, a bit fearful, reached out to a flask full of clear liquid. He’s going to destroy his work, Spencer realized. But then the door opened and one person came in and the Unsub relaxed.

The person in question was a woman, or had a body like one at least. Maybe late 40’s or early 50’s, in what had to be a neat, professional suit under her overcoat, a tidy haircut and sensible shoes “In'l err saekyn. In'l a'trh di.” She said to him.

“Tyetg ka'v.” He replied as he went back to what had to be a microscope.

“Ha'z ael aen ka'aetk?” She asked as she went over to look at what he had on the table.

“Tyi za'rph lnseaet ael vsa'ksillaetk istit phelnis nyet nyi a'nyisl.” He replied, pulling out a sheet of data for her. “Tyael daekyn mi nyi da'ln staesoiritn hin.”

She seemed surprised by that. “Rierrh?”

“Yil. Hesti e ra'a'g.” He moved aside so she could look into the scope.

“Spence.” JJ said quietly. “What’s going on?”

“From body language and vocal infliction he’s discussing his work with a colleague.” Spencer replied.

“More than one Unsub?”

“From the looks of it. Maybe a consortium of scientists.” Spencer considered this a moment. “Why would a consortium of scientists work together underground and go through all this trouble to keep test subjects no one knows about?”

It didn’t take JJ long. “Because their work is illegal. You know, this works even better with the timeline.”

“Ca'oirv aen mi mireoili nyili loimqirnl esi zaenyaet nyi a'vnaeder rirroires setki?” The female Unsub asked

“Pa'llaemrh. Wi'rr yesti na' niln aen a't a'nyisl na' mi loisi. Boin aeph I'd saekyn nyael lnseaet za'oirv mi nyi aevier na' mikaet nilnaetk nyi sterraeti.” The male replied.

“One scientist is caught, he goes to jail, and then the next one in the chain sets up a lab and picks up where he left off. The difference in time intervals is the length of time it takes to get a lab set up.”

“And what happened to the last three in each cluster happened after they left the lab. Each three is the same because they go to the same place. But each cluster goes somewhere different.” JJ sighed. “It fits.”

Spencer turned back to watch just as the female’s eyes met his. “Oy ra'a'g.” She said as she smiled at him. “Ya'oi yesti e rraedmis.”

“I gta'z. Hi zenryil di err nyi naedi.” The male returned to the scope. “In'l rsiivh el yirr.”

The female kept watching. After a moment she smiled, gave him a very deliberate, slightly exaggerated nod of recognition and even a little wave. “Hirra' raennri za'rph“

“Da't'n itra'oiseki yaed.” The male growled

Communication, Spencer thought, At last. He smiled and nodded. “My name is Spencer Reid. I’m a scientist like you. If you let me out maybe I can help you with your research.”

“Ya'oi yesti na' za'tvis zyen nyih esi lehaetk.” She said to the man, still watching Spencer, clearly fascinated.

“Na' ha'oi va't'n.” The man said, frustration in his voice.

“I know we speak different languages, but if you let me out maybe we can find a way to communicate.” Spencer had to keep trying. “At least was can make the attempt. You’re a scientist, I’m a being from another world, how can you give up this chance?”

“In'l lev. Hi'l la' ha'oitk. Atv yi la'oitvl joiaein aetnirraekitn.” The female said, a regretful note in her voice.

“In'l na'a' reni Maesetve. Gin va'zt! Gin va'zt!” The male growled out his frustration as he brought the broom over again. Spencer had to jump down to avoid getting whacked in the nose. “Da't'n kin enneryiv. Tyih'si etaederl ta'z.”

Spencer sighed in frustration. “Sorry Spence.” JJ said. “It was worth a try.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**Day 05**

 

_“Claim me.” She said_

_“I will.” He replied_

_“Claim me.” She said again, as her mouth found his. “Make me yours.”_

_Her kiss was rich, tempting, more than any kiss had ever been. There was energy to it, wild and full of passion and promise and play. Yes, she wanted to play, to run and be chased and dance under that false moon. “Yes.” He said as he kissed her fully. “Yes.”_

_“Claim me.” She said. And then she ran across the meadow, daring him to chase her._

_“Yes!” He ran after her, grinning wildly, his four paws barely skimming the ground as he..._

* * *

 

Spencer woke with a start. Had he been dreaming he was some kind of animal? For a long moment he lay there, trying to figure out what was different, something other than a dream turned nightmare, and other than the painful erection he’d come to expect from those dreams. Something was different. Something had changed.

He opened his eyes, fully expecting the usual blur and slight twist to the world he always saw before he got his glasses on. He saw that, yes, but he also saw a world that was somehow greyer than before. It had been a grey room, grey bricks, grey soil, grey concrete, but even now it was flatter than it had been before.

His sweater caught his eye; he peeled it off to get a better look. It was a Fair Isle vest, striped in a brilliant rainbow, now looking a little worn for the constant wearing. But now the colors were shifted, some gone grey, the rest muted, softened. Putting on his glasses did not bring the world entirely back into focus.

But that wasn’t what woke him.

He heard a constant, regular sound coming from the other side of the wall. When he pressed close he could hear it more loudly, along with some faint rasping, like something light rubbing over something else. It took him a moment to place the pattern, but then he found it. He could hear JJ breathing, the sound of her body taking in and releasing air, through nearly a foot of concrete. That rasping sound was the sound of her shirt rubbing against the wood of the bunk as she breathed.

But that wasn’t what woke him.

What is it, he thought, what hits so primal that it can pull you from your sleep?

It wasn’t until the sound of a car parking outside, along with the stink of some kind of fuel and perhaps the tires that he realized what it was. Even as he heard the sound of a car door and a trunk and footsteps, sounds he had not heard from in here yesterday, he realized what had pulled him from that sleep.

He could _smell_ them.

Not just outside, he could smell JJ and Brian clearly, that unique combination of hormones and pheromones and clothing and body odor that made them exactly what they were. He could smell the lingering trace of JJ’s shampoo and soap even, and the soap from her clothes and his. And something else. Something inside him knew, was convinced, that JJ was _his_ somehow. She _belonged to him_ based entirely on that smell. And Brian did not. Not that he was afraid that Brian would take her, not in the sense of jealousy, but Brian was something other now. Something different entirely.

It’s changing me, he thought. The disease is changing my brain.

The sounds and smells coming from outside shifted. The Unsub always brought huge meals, and each one came with several forms of protein, including a meat dish at night and a breakfast heavily laden with eggs and sausage and a form of bacon. Now he suddenly caught the scent of the meat and his hunger roared forth. He felt his stomach twist into knots from the pain of it. He even felt himself starting to drool.

It was enough to wake JJ. “Huh.” He heard her breathing shift, heard her body moving against the wood. “What...what is that?”

“JJ?”

“Oh my god, what is that _smell_?”

“Breakfast, I hope.”

“Why...how can I...Spence?”

“It’s all right. We’re showing symptoms. We’ll talk after breakfast.”

“Yeah.”

When the boxes slid under the door Spencer all but ripped his open and dove in to the giant pile of eggs and sausage. From the other side it sounded like JJ did too.

* * *

 

Hotch looked up as Erin Strauss entered his office after a courtesy knock on the door. “I want you to know I’m meeting with Senator Angstrom late this afternoon.”

“Senator Angstrom?” Hotch said. Why did he care about Senator Angstrom?

“He’s on a junket in Germany. He’s returning early to meet with me.” She shut the door behind her. “He’s on the oversight committee for Unit L13. Apparently they’re the ones who have been hampering your investigation.”

Now Hotch cared very much about Senator Angstrom. “Is he willing to help us?”

Strauss nodded. “He will be. I’m calling in a big favor for this one. I do not like it when my people take the hurt for something coming from the DOD.”

“This is DOD then?”

“Apparently Unit L13 operates under the auspices of USAMRIID.”

“USAMRIID?” The United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. “We dealt with them during the Nichols case.”

“That’s why they should be working with us now. And they will be if I have anything to say about it.”

Hotch nodded. “Thank you”

“Just get them home Aaron.”

* * *

 

Even after he had gorged himself on breakfast Spencer found he had the desire to nibble. Thankfully there was a large pile of mostly healthy things to choose from. He had a container of some kind of berries beside him as he worked on carving out the last of the mortar from around that chunk of brick.

“Okay, that is the most annoying noise ever.” JJ said to him

“I should be done with it soon. In fact...” It was coming loose. He stopped digging and started wiggling it, breaking up the last of the mortar until at last it fell through to the other side. “Sorry!”

“No worries. It didn’t hit anything.” There wasn’t enough room to go through of course, but JJ’s face appearing in the opening. “Hi Spence! You look all right.”

Spencer grinned. Now they weren’t as alone anymore. “So do you. Here.” There was enough room for them to pass small items back and forth, in this case a greenish fruit with a slightly crisp, almost tart interior. “Swap you for one of the yellow ones.”

“Deal.” She passed back something about the same size, with a yellow skin and a soft, vanilla flesh. “So you’re having the same symptoms?”

“A shift in color vision, and more acute hearing and sense of smell. Yes. What kind of cookies did you get?”

“Think it will get worse? Chocolate. Did you get the fig newtony ones?”

“I have no idea. Yeah. Swap?”

“Sure. Did you dream about that girl last night?”

“I did. Only we were some kind of animal this time too.” He went to get the tin of cookies from his box. “Did you dream of anything?”

She was quiet too long again. “No.” She passed her tin through the hole in the wall. “I haven’t been dreaming.”

Her voice almost broke as she said it. He passed her his tin, only to have her grab his hand and hang on. His emotions flared. Not sexual, not romantic, but he really wanted to pull her over and into his arms right then. “JJ?”

“Sorry. I just...”

“A desire for contact?”

“Yeah. Not like...that though. You too?”

“It might be a symptom.”

“Great. I just...” She made some broken sound and let go.

“JJ?” There was another scent coming from her side of the wall, something rich and almost sugary. “What just happened?”

“I...I’m leaking. I don’t...” He could hear the distress in her voice as she moved around the room.

Leaking. Milk. He was smelling milk. “It’s probably another symptom of the illness. I’m sorry.” That had to be distressing.

“Yeah. I haven’t in years. I just...”

“JJ.” There was something more to this, something she wasn’t sharing.  “Tell me.” It came out as a command. He had never commanded anyone in his life but without thinking he did.

She was quiet for a long moment. “That year I was gone, at first I was assigned to the Pentagon. Will and I thought I would be doing desk work and....we both have brothers and sisters and we wanted....and Henry is old enough and I was going to be closer to home, not traveling as much and....”

It took a moment to kick in. “You were trying for another baby.”

She was quiet for another long time. “We had another baby.”

But if she had actually had the baby he would have known. “What happened?” He asked gently.

She leaned against the wall next to the opening. “They sent me on a mission to Afghanistan, profiling female members of the terror squads. It was crazy over there Spence. There was no clear chain of command, no defined objective, I couldn’t even trust my team; we had a leak somewhere. And that on top of the horrid conditions and constant threats...”

It wasn’t hard to figure out what happened. “You lost the baby.”

“Our convoy was hit. In the explosion.” She started quietly sobbing. He reached through the small hole so she could take his hand and hold on. “People were sad but there was nothing anyone could do. We had to continue the mission. And at the same time I was trying to help Emily and Henry was upset about me being gone and Will was starting back to work and the team was having problems because we lied and all that time all I wanted was for someone to tell everyone to back off so I could cry. I wanted someone to take control so I didn’t have to.”

“And no one did.”

“No one did. It seemed like no one cared. So I did it. I manned up and got it all done, and when I got home no one cared so I focused on becoming a profiler because I clearly sucked at being a wife and a mother and at least a profiler is a useful thing.”

“You don’t suck at being a wife and mother.” Spencer said. “If anyone ever says that I promise to...to kick them for you or something.” She laughed through her tears at that. “Okay, I’ll give them a stern talking to.”

“I just wish someone would have been there. And now everything is falling apart again.”

“Yeah. But you’re not alone this time.” He squeezed her hand a little tighter. I can do this, he thought. I can be there for her.

She squeezed back. “Thank you.”

“Of course.”

She took a deep breath, “I’ve been dreaming of a little girl.” She admitted. “She’s lost in the woods and crying for me and I’m trying to find her. She needs me so badly, and I just can’t get to her. It’s this physical ache to go get her and hold her and take care of her. I’ve been waking up leaking the past two mornings.”

“You were pregnant a lot more recently than I thought. The prions could be affecting your hormones.”

“Yeah, I guess.” She was quiet again, then, “Am I dreaming of the baby I lost?”

“I don’t know.”

Finally he heard a soft sob. “She needs me Spence.” JJ said as she started to cry. “Wherever she is she needs me.”

“I know.” He reached through the hole again and felt her take his hand and hang on tight.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**Day 05**

Later in the day the Unsub returned. As he puttered around the lab they could smell the chemical, hear the small noises they didn’t notice before, even smell and hear their supper cooking upstairs. “Spence?” JJ called quietly.

“Yeah?”

“Are you watching him?”

“Yeah.”

“Is he setting up to do blood tests again?”

“Yeah.” He did them every day. Spencer’s right arm was becoming a mass of track marks again, small red bruises peppered the inside of his arm, but that didn’t seem to stop this Unsub at all.

JJ was quiet a long moment. “I don’t think I can do this.”

Spencer heard the quaver in her voice. But beyond that he could somehow smell the fear coming off her. With that realization came the overwhelming desire to go to her, to protect her, to make that smell go away. He jumped down and went to the hole in the wall. “JJ, it’s okay. He does it every day; it’s not that big a deal anymore.”

She met him over there, her blue eyes sparkling with unshed tears. “I know.   It’s just a blood test. But for some reason I am freaking out about this right now, Spence. I don’t want him touching me.”

“JJ...”

“Don’t let him!” She reached through the wall for him.

He grabbed her hand then and held tight. “There’s no way I can stop him.”

“I know! I know! I just...” It ended on a moan.

He leaned against the wall, clinging to her hand. “I want to.” He admitted. “I want to break this wall down and protect you somehow.”

“I wish you could.” She whimpered. Yes, she whimpered. “And I’m the athletic one.” Even her laughter whimpered.

“I know!” It made no sense at all, but the emotions were overwhelming. It was nothing but a blood test, but at the thought of the Unsub getting anywhere near her he wanted to rip the man’s throat out.

Preferably with his teeth.

They heard the winch start up for the far cell. JJ whimpered again. “Spence...”

He held on as tight as he could. “I know.”

It was no time before her winch started. She gave a little cry and tried to cling to him, to the wall, something but it was no use. “No! Please don’t! Please!! Spence! Help!”

There was nothing he could do. Literally nothing he could do. But he found himself in the corner anyway, where her room met the outside, where the Unsub was just on the other side of the wall. And when JJ made this strange yelping sound, when the needle went in, Spencer felt this inhuman growl arise from his throat.

The Unsub just laughed.

He let JJ go, Spencer heard her scramble to the very back of her cell. Minutes later the winch was pulling him to the wall. He didn’t fight, but those strange sounds kept coming from him. He didn’t know what they were but he didn’t want to stop them. He wanted the Unsub to understand that he would kill him for hurting JJ if given half a chance.

“Wyen'l zsa'tk raennri za'rph? Daev I yoisn ha'ois verg deni?” The Unsub murmured as prepared a spot for the draw. “Syi ael phaeti. Atv la' esi ha'oi ta'z.” Spencer heard the sound coming from him grow deeper, more threatening, as the needle slid home. “Vish ka'a'v raennri za'rph. Fa'a'v zaerr ra'di la'a't. Cerd va'zt ta'z. Cerd va'zt. Cerd va'zt.”

He let Spencer go finally. He stepped back and paced in a circle, suddenly filled with all this anger and energy and desire to just...just...With a deep growl he hauled back and pounded the heavy door in front of him. And then stared, shocked, at the dent he left behind.

* * *

 

**Day 06**

The team waited outside the conference room where Strauss was meeting with Senator Angstrom and a flock of others too high up the ladder for them to know their names. The minutes ticked on interminably. As they waited and paced Hotch tried not to think of what could be happening to his people, to his friends, right now.

Finally, finally the meeting let out. Strauss stepped out with an Air Force Colonel. She signaled to them to step forward. “Colonel, this is SSA Aaron Hotchner, head of the BAU team.” She went around making introductions. “This is Colonel George Miller, director of Unit L13.”

“Air Force,” Rossi said. “I thought this was a USAMRIID project.”

“Joint command, I have one question Agent Hotchner.” Colonel Miller said. “What are the chances that Dr. Reid and Agent Jareau are being treated exactly like the other victims?”

“There’s no reason why they wouldn’t be.” Hotch replied.

“All right, Team Alpha One is getting this assignment. They’re currently in the field but are scheduled to return soon. Forty-eight hours after that they’ll be sent out to try to bring your people home.”

“Wait a minute.” Morgan said. “You’ve known where those people have been going all this time and you never said anything.”

“The location in question is a matter of national security.”

“We have twenty seven people dead!”

Colonel Miller turned and looked Morgan straight in the eye, “Collateral Damage.” He said. “Dr. Reid and Agent Jareau were both intelligence assets before this happened. Now they’re too valuable to lose. Lt. Colonel Frank Beauregard is in charge of Mission ops, I’ll have him meet with you, Agent Hotchner, sometime before Alpha One returns to brief you on the nature of the mission and see to it that you have an observer’s pass for the control room while it’s ongoing.”

“Agent Morgan will be accompanying your team.” Hotch said.

That stopped the Colonel in his tracks. “I beg your pardon?”

“Agent Morgan will be accompanying your team.” Hotch said again. “There’s another agenda at work here. I want to be certain someone is along whose only intent is getting my people home safely.”

The Colonel turned and looked Morgan over. “It’s extremely physically demanding.”

“I can handle it.” Morgan replied.

“It’s dangerous territory.”

“I’ll risk it.”

“Top secret all the way.”

“I’ve got the clearances.”

The Colonel considered and then nodded. “All right, I’ll tell the Lt. Colonel to expect the two of you.”

After the Colonel and Strauss headed off Hotch turned to Morgan. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have blindsided you.”

“It’s all right. I don’t trust him either.” Morgan said. “I just hope JJ and Reid hold out until we get there.”

* * *

 

A little ways down the hall Erin Strauss was met by another man in a suit. “You’ve been wanting someone in the L13 program who could freely operate within the borders.” She said

He smiled. “This is a lucky break. Can you see to it that they transfer over once medical clears them?”

“I believe I can. It wouldn’t be the first time FBI agents have been assigned to another task force.”

“Then we will do everything we can to get them home.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**Day 06**

The next day Hotch and Morgan went out to Ft. Detrick and met with Lt. Colonel Beauregard who headed up Mission Ops and a Major Kelly McGuire, who headed up the BioMedical research department for the unit. They got about five minutes into the briefing before Hotch had to stop them, “Another planet?”

“Yes. They call it Voirret. I know how it sounds Agent.” Beauregard said. “I could get one of guys from the tech department up here to tell you how it works, but I think you’d need a degree in physics first.”

“We’ll get Reid on that when he gets back.” Morgan said.

“Skipping over the how, we found that the wormhole we created led to a habitable planet.” Beauregard continued. “After extensive remote exploration we decided to send a team over. We called this team Alpha One, headed up by Captain John Madox. On their first trip out they made contact with the native population.”

“They’re sentient?” Hotch asked.

“They’re humanoid.” McGuire said. They had a board up, now she started showing pictures of people. Honest to god human people. Some of the lines of their bodies looked a little off, but nothing that would call attention on an urban street. “I assume you don’t want to get into our parallel evolutionary theories here.”

“Not today.” Hotch said. “They look fairly technologically advanced.”

“Most of what we could call higher technology is in the hands of the government.” McGuire said. “The majority of the population lives with a level of technology similar to that of Western Europe in the early Fifties. They have phones, cars, radios, movies, that sort of thing. And despite a recent military coup and a junta government most people live fairly comfortable lives. There’s very little poverty, with few exceptions little violence and little discrimination.”

“Sounds idyllic.”

“It’s not for everyone.” Beauregard said. “It’s a two tier society. The vast majority go about their comfortable lives. Then there are the Infected.”

“Infected?” Morgan asked.

“It’s a disease endemic in their population.” McGuire said. “They estimate between five and ten percent of their population is currently actively infected or a carrier. It’s actually very difficult to acquire, its blood born and infectious particles are shed in the saliva, but have to enter the blood stream directly to infect the next patient. We were concerned with someone ingesting brain tissue, which was why we tested Agents Prentiss and Jareau when the survivor committed suicide, but it turns out that’s not a vector. From what we can tell the only ways to acquire the disease are through a bite from an infected mammal, from mother to child, or through a contaminated needle stick, either accidental or deliberate.”

“Given that you’ve collected all our test results I’m assuming that all of our victims have come back infected.” Hotch said. “None of them showed signs of a bite, and the chances of that many accidents are small. Our Unsub is deliberately infecting them.”

“That’s the most likely vector.” McGuire nodded.

“Once a person is found to be infected they lose all standing in their society.” Beauregard said. “They lose any rights they had, all relationships are destroyed, they’re seen as little better than animals. They are immediately taken into quarantine for the rest of their lives. We have yet to see what that looks like.”

Morgan looked over the file. “When you’re done with a lab animal you euthanize it.” He said. “That explains our first clusters. You think our Unsub was pulling people from here to use as test subjects?”

“It’s likely.” McGuire said. “Even discussing the subject is taboo in their society. Anyone wanting to study the nature of the disease would have to set up an underground laboratory.”

“He gets them from here, sends them back here. No witnesses, no evidence. How is he getting them?”

“We’re not sure. But we suspect these send them back.” She held up a picture of one of the tubes. “We’re not sure how they miniaturize them so well, what we use takes up most of an airplane hangar.”

“What can you tell us about the nature of the disease?” Hotch asked.

“That’s still classified.” Beauregard said.

“Not good enough. From what you’re saying Agent Jareau and Dr. Reid are likely already infected.”

“And we will disclose information about the disease to them upon their return.”

“They’ll both need to return here once a month for treatment.” McGuire said. “So long as they maintain a simple protocol they ought to otherwise be able to return to full duty once they recover from any other injuries acquired.”

Hotch was quiet a moment. “Agent Jareau is a newlywed.” He said. “She has a son at home.”

But McGuire was confident. “That shouldn’t be a problem at all. So long as she maintains the protocol there should be no risk.”

“You’ve treated people with this before?”

“Without getting in to the details, yes,” Beauregard said. “They’ve been functioning normally for over a year now.”

Morgan was on to something else. “Ok, if we’re right then the ones who were euthanized were killed by our primary Unsub. But then his lab gets shut down and the three still there are taken in to quarantine. So what happened to the secondary clusters happened while they were in government custody.”

“That is the likely scenario.” Beauregard said. “They have what they call Testers, people who go around performing instant blood tests on anyone acting suspiciously. If you don’t pass you get taken away, no recourse.   That and some of the rumors coming out of those detention camps have made more than a little of the population less than happy with their government.”

“Rebellion?” Hotch asked.

“Encouraged by former military still loyal to the former royal family. They’re working their way up to a guerilla war. We have yet to establish formal relations with the government but we have a good, working relationship with the leader of one of the rebel camps. Alpha One has been working with him to try to find your Unsubs. They’ll be back soon to resupply, when they head back out Agent Morgan here will go with them.”

“Hopefully we’ll get there before the lab is raided.”

* * *

 

**Day 07**

“All right, that’s it.” Morgan turned off the camera as Garcia came back into her lair. “Now you got this right? One for my Mother, one for my sisters and one for Anthony.”

“Yeah, I got it.” Garcia said as she wrapped her arm around him. “But I am not going to have to send them those videos because you are going to come back from wherever you’re going and you’re going to bring Reid and JJ back with you.”

“Yes I am momma.” Morgan wrapped his arms around his baby girl and held her close. “No reason why I won’t. I’ve got all the skills they wanted and I’ve got a whole squad going out with me.”

“I just wish you could tell me where.”

“Sorry baby girl. National security. You know that.”

“D’you think JJ and Reid are going to be really sick when they get back?”

“I dunno, but it sounds like whatever it is the USAMRIID people have a handle on it. They’re strong, they can get through anything.”

“I hope so. I hope they’re just sitting in some Unsub’s holding cell more bored than anything.”

“So do I.”

* * *

Another day, another evening spent clinging to the wall, watching the Unsub work. “I still wish I could be down there.” Spencer said.

“It would be more interesting than sitting here eating and doing pushups all day.” JJ agreed.

Spencer turned his head as a car pulled up. But by the sound and the scent there was only one person, female. The Unsub’s colleague was likely. Sure enough a few minutes later she came in the room. “Hirra'.” She said. “In'l negit ersievh?”

“Yil, nyih esi ma'ny lya'zaetk stish lnsa'tk lhdvna'dl.” The male Unsub said. “Lin di lya'z ha'oi dh siloirnl.”

While he went to dig out some paper the female Unsub turned to look at Spencer and wave. “Hirra' raennri za'rph." She said. “I msa'oikyn ha'oi la'di nsienl."

“Da't'n itra'oiseki yaed." The male growled.

Just as he brought his data back to the work table Spencer heard the sound of many feet running lightly outside. He turned to look out the narrow, high window as the moving shadows caught his newly sensitive vision. “What is it Spence?” JJ asked

The female Unsub noticed his movement as well. She went and opened a cupboard to check some kind of viewscreen. He could smell her sudden flair of fear. “Pa'raeri!” She hissed. Without a word the male Unsub knocked over that ever present flask of clear liquid, bringing a harsh scent to Spencer’s nose. The female knocked over another one just as the male clicked a lighter and touched the flame to the sodden table. The liquid immediately ignited, burning all of their research. The two of them turned to some of the storage, smashing vials, overturning containers, destroying everything they could.

“Spence!” JJ called out, adding her own fear to the mix

“I think...” Just then the door burst open and a dozen men in armored uniforms carrying guns burst in the room. “...the lab has just been made.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**Day 07**

 

Morgan and Hotch stood in the control room of the L13 transport station and looked out over the platform. “I have lost my mind.” Morgan said.

“Something doesn’t feel right about all this.” Hotch said. “I want someone I can trust on either end. You’re the only one qualified.”

“I know. It’s Reid and JJ.” Morgan nodded. “I have still lost my mind.”

“Incoming wormhole,” the sergeant in charge said, triggering some kind of warning klaxon.

As they watched a ring around the floor lit up. All of a sudden a column of energy sprang up, shooting up to the ceiling, almost too bright to look at, as the entire building filled with the sound of a roaring ocean. A moment later it dropped back into the floor and Unit L13 was standing there. Eight soldiers heavily armed and loaded with gear, and one small transport cart.

“Good. No injuries.” McGuire said, coming over to have a look. “That’s Captain Maddox.” She nodded to the biggest of a bunch of real big guys.

As they watched Colonel Beauregard was in there talking to said Captain. Maddox turned and looked up. Morgan had looked into the faces of a hundred Unsubs, more rabid cops than he could count and things that had made him question reality. But something about Maddox sent a chill down him. “That man is not right.” He said quietly.

But McGuire heard. “What makes you say that?” She asked.

“Instinct.” He didn’t know what it was but something about him, about all of them, was off. Like part of them was off on another plane somehow.

McGuire quirked a smile, “Come meet him.”

They headed down to the launch platform, just as Maddox was stepping off, and checking out some kind of gear on his wrist. “Captain John Maddox, SSA Aaron Hotchner, SSA Derek Morgan.”

“Agents.” Up close Maddox radiated power and confidence. He was king of this room and he knew it, rank be dammed. He unwrapped a chunk of Super Bubble gum and went to work on it. “So I hear we’re taking the FBI with us.” He was looking at them but then he projected his voice so he would he heard throughout the large room. “That right Donaldson?”

A nondescript man in a suit came in from another doorway. “How do you do that Maddox?”

Maddox didn’t answer; instead he turned back to Hotch and Morgan. “That’s Donaldson. He had to leave his first name behind when he went to spook school. There’s a lot of people gone missing, Donaldson. Why are we suddenly being all wound up over a couple of glorified cops? No offence.” He said that last to Hotch and Morgan.

“None taken,” Morgan said. Maddox was playing Donaldson for something; the slur was part of it. Morgan just didn’t know what it was yet.

Donaldson gave a very honest, quite sincere smile. “Interagency cooperation,” he said.

“Oh. That’s nice.” Maddox turned to look at Morgan again. “How soon can you be ready to depart?”

“Name it.” Morgan replied. “I just need gear.”

“Good. Hope you can keep up with the big dogs.” That brought a chorus of teasing barks from his men. “Hit the head before we go, we’ve got a hike when we land.” Maddox turned back to the group. “Johnson, Vasquez, swap out and then gear up Morgan here. The rest of you swap out and pack up the ERV. We leave on my say so.” His men groaned but got moving. He looked up to the control booth and threw a hand sign at the sergeant in charge up there, who nodded and disappeared.  

“You need to be briefed first Captain.” Donaldson said, clearly annoyed by this performance.

“Let’s get on that.” Maddox moved out to follow Donaldson.

“Why we leaving so fast Cap?” One of the men called out after him.

Maddox turned and walked backward a few steps and smiled. “What Johnson, ha'oi ret'n ldirr nyi raeil aet yisi?” Then he turned and followed the others.

Morgan and Hotch watched him go. The layers of context in here were thicker and denser than in the interview room. “This is going to be fun.” Morgan said.

“I’ll stick by the comms.” Hotch replied. “I might be able to help.”

“Thanks.”

* * *

 

Maddox followed Donaldson down to the conference room at his own pace. Once there he sat at the far end of the table. Donaldson joined the older, neatly dressed woman at the other end. “Captain John Maddox, this is the BAU Unit Chief, SSA Erin Strauss, here to brief you on the people you will be recovering.”

“Ma’am,” Maddox smiled politely.

“You’re not going to join us?” Strauss asked.

“I’ve been in the woods for nearly two weeks Ma’am.” He said with a polite smile. “You don’t want me closer.”

“Right.” Maddox listened as she started in about the unit, talking about its function, purpose. He kept his eyes on what he was doing under the table. This, of course, caused her to stop after the third sentence. “What are you doing?”

“Swapping out batteries. Mine’s discharged.” He held up the thick metal and black band he wore on his wrist. “Unless you’d rather I wait.” He asked Donaldson, innocence on his face.

As expected Donaldson nearly shit himself. “No no, go right ahead. Do what you need to while we talk. Captain Maddox is wearing what we call an inhibitor.” He said, turning to Strauss. “It’s a requirement of the unit that they be fully functional and worn at all times outside of the facility.”

“Isn’t this the facility?”

“No, in this case it refers to the USAMRIID facility on the other side of the base. Dr. Reid and Agent Jareau will each be provided with one.”

“Oh. Good.” By the time they turned back Maddox was finished, his hands folded on the table. “Shall we continue?” Strauss asked.

“Please.” Maddox said.

* * *

 

The briefing took thirty minutes. At the end of it Captain Maddox was dismissed, having learned all they wanted him to know about Dr. Reid and Agent Jareau.

Twenty minutes after that Donaldson escorted Strauss from the room, and up to the control room to watch Morgan’s departure.

Five minutes after that, after being alerted to their location by the sergeant on duty Captain Maddox returned to the conference room and removed the smart phone he had stuck under the desk with chewing gum when they weren’t looking.

* * *

 

Five minutes later Maddox was on the launch platform with his geared up team, getting his pack on. “Did you hit the head?” He asked Morgan.

Morgan was standing there with his sidearm, his back-up, an assault rifle, a pack loaded with ammo for all for the above, more MRE’s than he had ever seen in his life, spare clothes for Reid and JJ, a spare set of Reid’s glasses, and not nearly enough crap to take care of himself, at least in his opinion. But it weighted a metric ton already so he wasn’t getting more. “I just left there.” He said.

“All right then.” Maddox turned and signaled the Sergeant. A moment later a countdown started. “Here were go.”

3....2....1...

All of a sudden it went dark. And they were moving.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 3 – Incubation
> 
> Do not compute the totality of your poultry population until all the manifestations of incubation have been entirely completed.
> 
> \- William Jennings Bryan

**Chapter 13**

**Day 07**

 

There was no point in watching the local police bust the lab. Spencer had seen Unsubs arrested enough times to know from the tones of voices what was going on. There were the cops taking control of the situation, there were the Unsubs insisting they were doing nothing wrong, there was the arrest, there were the detectives coming in and sighing over the destroyed evidence. It was all pretty rote by now. He concentrated on eating up the last of his leftovers. “What are you doing?” JJ asked.

“Eating, I don’t know when we will again.”

JJ immediately went to work on her own stash, knowing Brian didn’t have one.

Thankfully they had time to finish before the doors were opened. Spencer’s was last. It rode easily over the chain on his arm, allowing him to step out without issue. He already expected the guns that were pointed at him and moved accordingly, slowly, deliberately, his hands in plain sight at all times.

He, JJ and Brian were lined up along the wall with the cages. JJ looked all right, a little grimy for not having had a shower in a week but otherwise all right. Brian, their other victim, looked a lot grimy for not having had a shower in quite a while, but was otherwise unremarkable, dark hair, dark eyes, pale from lack of sun, t-shirt, jeans, hiking boots, the hard body of an athlete and model under it all. Spencer kept looking at them. He had the bizarre, nearly irresistible urge to put JJ behind him, to protect her.

As they expected one by one they were turned and frisked. There were slight differences in the way it was done over the police on Earth, but not enough to note. Neither he nor JJ had weapons, but their badges and keys were found and taken by what had to be one of the detectives on scene, based on what looked like suits instead of what resembled SWAT uniforms the others were wearing.   There were two, and they looked at the badges with confusion. “Wyen ael nyael?” One of them asked.

There was a language barrier, still, but they were relating to them like they were people, making eye contact, their manner open. Potentially dangerous people, but still people. But just as Spencer drew breath to answer there was a commotion outside.

Tyi Tilnis! Megi zeh pha's nyi Tilnis!” Someone called out.

A taller man in an impeccable formal uniform came in, attended by two men. “Ga'a'v istitaetk.” He said to the detectives with a polite, formal bow. “Wya' ael oitvis joiilnaea't?"

“Tyili nysii yisi." One of the detectives replied, gesturing to Spencer, Brian and JJ.

The man in the formal uniform nodded. “Arr saekyn. Utryeaet nyid." The detective who had spoken picked up a set of keys that had been in what looked like an evidence container, came over, and with the weapons firmly pointed at them, carefully unlocked the chains. Spencer noted the reddened, bruised condition of his wrist but didn’t move to rub it, with as nervous as the locals were he didn’t want to move that much.

While the chains were being unlocked Formal Uniform had been removing items from a box attached to his belt. Now he went over to Brian. “Gaesti di ha'ois yetv." He said, holding his hand out, palm up.

“I...I don’t know what you’re saying.” Brian said.

Formal Uniform frowned at the unknown language. He looked over his shoulder at the detectives who shrugged. Then he stepped forward as the local cops menaced a bit, took Brian’s hand and stuck a lancet in his finger. He caught the drop of blood in a small test tube already half filled with a solution. He capped it, gave it a shake, and watched as it turned a brilliant green. The results drew a guttural sigh from him and he shook his head.

He inserted the tube back in his belt box, picked up a clean lancet and moved on to JJ. “Gaesti di ha'ois yetv." He said, holding his hand out, palm up. The meaning was clear now, but JJ still hesitated. “Spence?” She asked, her voice quavering.

“Just do it.” He told her. Since when did he order her around anyway?

JJ put her hand in his and let Formal Uniform prick her finger. The pattern was repeated, with her tube also testing green. Once again he sighed and shook his head. He moved to Spencer next. “Gaesti di ha'ois yetv." Spencer held his hand out, winced at the poke, and watched the same results come up.

"Tyisi'l la'dinyaetk lnsetki ema'oin nyid." The one detective said. "Tyih va't'n lvieg a'ois retkoieki etv nyih va't'n ra'a'g saekyn. Asi ha'oi risneaet nyi niln ael za'sgaetk?"

Formal Uniform considered this a moment, then pulled a fresh test kit from his box. “Gaesti di ha'ois yetv." He said to the detective. All at once the detective looked nervous; the whole room seemed to be so. Even the LEO’s holding down on them were distracted a little. But he offered his hand, went through the test, and watched as the tube stayed red. After it stayed red a moment everyone seemed to let out a sigh of relief. "Tyi niln za'sgl a't eth dedder, istit pha'siln etaederl." Formal Uniform said as he cleaned up. "In ael ta' vaephphisitn pha's nyili. Tegi nyid a'oin na' nyi nsetlva'sn. Wa'sgya'oili 5 zaerr negi nyid."

That last was an order, calm, understated but clearly an order. As soon as it was given the cops started herding the three of them up the stairs and out of the cellar. Spencer had a glimpse of a comfortable, middle class house with overstuffed furniture and lots of wood and shelves full of books he longed to see, then a garden and a sky that was bluer than was familiar and a sun that seemed whiter somehow. There were unfamiliar things he so wanted to see closer, but the crowd of cops and people past barricades was more than familiar to him, as was the sight of what had to be a transport van at the curb. He, JJ and Brian were all but shoved in the back of it, the door was locked behind them, and moment later they were on the move.

 


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

**Day 07**

 

They were moving. They were moving very fast and it was very cold and getting hard to breathe.

Then it wasn’t.

Morgan jerked to a stop in the clearing of a forest somewhere. What might have been pine trees loomed above him, the air was fresh and sweet and slightly damp, like it had rained that day. They looked to be in the mountains somewhere.

“Okay, cover it up people.” Maddox said. He and his men were used to the trip; they caught their footing right off, got moving straight away. As Morgan watched they covered the ring that designated the launch zone with leaf litter and pine needles, camouflaging it well. “I want to get to the bivouac camp within the next two hours.”

“The bivouac camp, Cap?” Velasquez said. “We’re not going to the village?”

“Not yet.” Maddox replied. “Someone’s jerking my chain; I want to know why before we walk into it. You ready?” He asked Morgan

I am on another planet, Morgan thought. This is another planet. “Yeah. Sure.”

“All right. Move out people.” They started walking. Maddox motioned him to hold back a second. “Got a compass?”

“Yeah.”

“They train you FBI boys how to navigate in the woods?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.” He handed him a map, crouched down and showed him a keypad on the ring. “Code’s on the map, punch it in, count ten and it takes you home. Got it?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t lose it. They use a different system, you won’t give away our location if you do but you won’t find your way back here either.” Maddox covered the pad in leaf litter, kept a handful and started walking after the others, dropping the litter as he went. Without saying anything he moved so he was downwind of Morgan. “So, tell me about Dr. Reid and Agent Jareau.”

“What do you want to know?”

“What are they like? Abilities, command experience, personalities, that sort of thing.”

“Didn’t you get a file?”

“Yeah. I want to hear it from you.”

So Morgan started telling him about Reid and JJ. He told him about his friend the nerd’s nerd, how he loved Star Trek and Dr. Who and Sherlock Holmes and old medieval stories of knights and legends. How he babbled on for hours about his interest, how he lived on coffee, how he had no physical or fighting skills and no luck at all with women. And he told him about JJ, her ambition, her drive to get hard, her mental toughness, her strength, her love of her husband and her son. He told him enough, not too much, Maddox didn’t need to know the really personal stuff.

At the end of it all Maddox just nodded. “Uh huh. Now tell me about Strauss.”

“Strauss?”

“Yeah, Strauss. Your Unit Chief, SSA Erin Strauss.”

“I can’t say I know that much about her.”

“What, profiler, you never profiled your boss?”

“We don’t profile each other.”

“That’s less than helpful.” Maddox pulled his smart phone out of his pocket, plugged an earbud into one ear and started listening to something.

Right. Whatever. Why did Morgan feel like this mission was going sideways before the first pit stop.

They kept hiking, the unit keeping up a loose perimeter, Morgan hiking in the center with Maddox, Maddox not paying anything the slightest bit of attention. Eventually he switched from listening to something to reading something on his tablet as he walked. It was a nice day for it, warm with what might be a hint of fall in the air, but Morgan couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy. They weren’t on Earth after all. “Should we be worried about anything in these woods?” He asked at last.

“Nope,” Maddox kept walking.

“Nope. That’s it?”

“There’s nothing overly toxic out here, nothing poisonous or venomous. The apex predators will give us a wide berth. And the only people who would even be this far out are rebels who know us. We have another eight miles before we hit their picket line. No, right now all the threats are back at base. Your people testified in an inquest back in late November 2009, what happened there?”

November 2009? What happened there? Oh. “The Reaper,” Morgan said, “George Foyette. He had a personal vendetta against Agent Hotchner, ended up killing his wife and nearly killing his son.”

“Did Hotchner kill him?”

“Yes, he did.”

“Who cleared up the mess? That whole file’s been redacted.”

Huh? “I don’t know.” Morgan said.

“Who could have?”

Huh. “Strauss is most likely.”

“Uh huh. When was the next time you guys had to interact with her?”

“Huh?”

“The next time you had to deal with her, when was it?”

Oh hell. When was it? Was it...no, it was “We had a case in San Francisco, worked it with another team. She kept insisting we head back, that she didn’t want the other team on it, and that they were going off the rails.”

“What happened?”

“We got the guy.”

“So she was wrong.” Maddox didn’t say this as a question.

“Yeah.”

“When was this?”

“April of ‘10”

So November of ’09 to April of ’10. Her divorce was in there sometime, wasn’t it?”

How the hell? “What did you get a file on her?”

“He was having an affair, wasn’t he? It went public, didn’t it?”

“How the hell do you know all that?”

Maddox grinned. “She’s showing signs of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, plus she’s an alcoholic. She’s been manipulating your team since April of ’10 when you embarrassed her by making her look bad over the San Francisco case, on top of her public humiliation at the hands of her husband which is the most likely thing to set her off. And after she went through all the trouble of cleaning up the Foyette mess too, you ungrateful little bastards, you.” He said the last in a gentle, teasing manner.

“How do you know all of this?” Morgan demanded.

“I suspect she’s had it in for Hotchner for a while, had him right where she wanted him after the Foyette business, but then he turned around and got all independent again in San Francisco. She knows she can’t take a big alpha dog down so she’s been knocking out the other members of the team one by one, or trying to, in order to rot out his foundation under him.”

“Really, where are you getting this?” Morgan was flabbergasted. What, was this jackass making shit up or what?

Maddox smiled. “Let’s back up a bit. What did they tell you about the effects of the infection?”

“Nothing. They said we didn’t need to know.”

“Yeah, they say that a lot, don’t they?”

“They do. Did they ever tell you about it?”

“Didn’t have to. I know the effects. We all do.” Maddox’s smile widened into a grin, “Intimately.”

It took a moment but then it clicked. Morgan stopped in his tracks and stared at Maddox. “You’re infected.” He said. “All of you.”

Maddox started chuckling, and for a moment Morgan could swear his eyes were not human. “Welcome to the party Agent Morgan.” He turned and kept walking.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Casting notes:
> 
> I'm thinking Chris Pine for the rakish Captain Maddox
> 
> http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/78/76/27/787627a7c4e2dbaf665a33fe34d657a0.jpg


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

**Day 07**

 

They had been herded into some kind of prisoner transport van, one with a bench down both sides and little light. With a lurch they started driving out to somewhere.

“What was all that?” JJ asked.

“Not sure.” Spencer replied. “From the context I’d say they tested us for some kind of contamination, probably whatever sickness the Unsub gave us.”

“Not for being alien?”

“No. There would have been no reason to test the detective there. And look at the way everyone acted when he was being tested, educated guess says that if he had come back positive he would be in here with us.”

“So people who have it are arrested?” Brian asked. “That’s not fair!”

“Detained,” Spencer said, “probably some kind of quarantine.”

“So we’re probably going to a hospital or something?” Brian asked. Or something, Spencer thought, but he didn’t want to frighten the younger man. Brian settled back. “That might be cool.”

They rode on and on, through what felt like urban streets, with stoplights, and then an area with what felt like stop signs. Both he and JJ tried to find a way out of here but none was forthcoming. Finally they both gave up and landed back on the bench. “Spence...” She said after a few. “I know this is going to sound strange, but...”

“What?” In reply she lifted his arm, pulled it around her shoulders and settled against him. She was right, it felt better this way.

They rode on, the stops becoming less frequent, but the roads were straight. Maybe farmland, he thought. After a time Brian spoke up again. “I just...no, it’s weird.”

“What is?”

“JJ said you were dreaming of some girl.”

“Yeah” He had been, every night without fail. He felt like he knew her now, like he would know her the moment he saw her. Like she was calling to him to come to her. “And you’ve been dreaming of a man?”

“Yeah, which is totally weird for me. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with it but I do not bend that way.”

Spencer smiled gently. “Sure?”

Brian matched his own gentle smile. “Fuck.” He settled back on the seat and shook his head. “Is it wrong to hope that I find him wherever we’re going? I mean I just want to know what the fuck is all.”

Spencer’s smile grew. If Brian was having the same feelings for his dream partner that he was having for the girl then no, he did not just want to know. “No, you don’t.”

There was a moment of quiet, then Brian chuckled gently. “No, I don’t. Not like there’s anything wrong with it, right?”

“Not at all.”

They were quiet for a time, then Brian spoke up again. “Okay, this is going to sound strange, but...” He didn’t have to say it. Spencer just lifted his other arm. A moment later he had another warm body pressed up against him. And it felt perfectly fine.

* * *

 

After more time than Spencer cared to consider the transport slowed. It seemed to pass through some checkpoints and then finally stopped. A few moments later the back opened and a phalanx of guards motioned them to come out. His newly sensitive nose was assaulted by a firestorm of new scents, acrid chemicals and burning metal. He stepped out and looked around at a massive industrial complex and past it a giant hole in the ground.

Brian and JJ climbed out to stand next to him. “I thought we were going to a hospital.” Brian said. “What is this place?”

“Some kind of mining operation from the looks of it,” Spencer replied.

“Ca'di a't! Ca'di a't!" The guards motioned them around the van and toward an immense brick building. It was easily the size of a football stadium, three or four stories tall. Men in uniform seemed to be heading in and out the front door steadily. But Spencer also noticed that it was set into a wall with barbed wire over it, and that the windows were barred.

“Looks like a prison.” JJ said quietly.

“I know.”

The impression continued inside. The security checkpoints were familiar, having to wait for each door to be unlocked. Finally they came to a desk where one of the guards with them passed over their badges and Brian’s wallet. They were used to having their badges be an instant demand for respect and understanding in a place like this, but here they were on the wrong side somehow. The clerk on duty, just looked at them, exchanged shrugs with the guards, and took them away.

“Don’t we get to see a lawyer or something?” Brian asked.

“We’re not in the US.” Spencer reminded him. “We don’t even speak the language. Don’t start trouble, when we figure out what’s going on we’ll talk to them. For now we just need to try to stick together,” which would be hard if they took JJ off to a woman’s block or something, but cross that bridge when they came to it.

There was no more processing involved. No fingerprints, no issuing of uniforms, nothing. They were herded down a long main hallway lined with what looked like offices toward a large, steep staircase, one that went up in the center and down on the sides. They were pushed up the stairs, and through a couple more checkpoints at either end of another hall lined with connecting, smaller halls and more doors. At the last door the lead guard paused and smiled at them. "Wirra'di na' ha'ois tiz ya'di." He said, before he opened it and they were pushed through.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

**Day 07**

Morgan stood there in shock. All he could think was that he was not prepared for this.

Maddox realized he wasn’t following and turned. “Don’t worry, we’re not sharing. Come on.”

I should go back, Morgan thought, I should go back and ride that ring thing home and raise high holy hell at being blindsided like this. But Reid and JJ need me, maybe more than ever. He swallowed and kept walking.

Eventually he caught up with Maddox. “They think it’s prion based disease.” Maddox continued as if they had never stopped. “It re-writes parts of your DNA, alters the proteins in your body and re-wires parts of your brain, as near as they can tell. One of the things it does is enhance your sense of smell. For example you are utterly terrified right now, aren’t you?”

Morgan swallowed again. Twice. “What, you can smell fear?”

“Among other things. I knew Donaldson was standing outside the launch chamber because I could smell him out there. I also noted based on the change in his scent that that his biochemistry changed when he said this was all about interagency cooperation, indicating that he was lying. And Strauss had Johnny Walker Blue on her breath at 10am under a layer of Listerine, showing that she has fairly good taste in scotch and is probably an alcoholic.”

“It would.” Great, he has to find this out now. “What makes you think she’s been jerking the team around?”

“Because she lied through that whole briefing. I have a lack of trust of Donaldson based on years of experience so I bugged the room to get their conversation after I left.” He pulled out his smart phone. “Did you know Agent Jareau was reluctant to go to Afghanistan?”

And here we go again with the blindsiding. “I didn’t even know JJ was in Afghanistan.”

“Yeah.” He pulled out his tablet again and pulled up a copy of JJ’s file that Morgan had never seen before. “From October 1st of ’10 to July 1st of ’11, with a break home from March 15th to March 30th of ’11.” He shared he file.

Morgan looked it over, utterly shocked. He’d had no idea, none of them had. He didn’t even think Hotch knew. “They said she was transferring to the Pentagon as a press liaison. They told her she was transferring to the Pentagon as a press liaison.”

“And once she was there Strauss had her reassigned to "Operation: Classified", which is a real cute name for the group hunting Bin Ladin. We worked with them a few times, bigger bunch of fuck ups I never did see. So, now, mentally splitting the time between before she was reassigned and after, did Agent Jareau have any skills that would have warranted putting her on that task force and out in the field?”

“No.” Morgan was shocked by this, utterly shocked. “She was a press liaison, our communications director. She didn’t even have time to train for anything.”

“Uh huh.” Maddox took his tablet back.

This guy was good, Morgan thought. But he’s still not sharing everything. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m still adding it up in my head. OK, so Agent Jareau was replaced by one Ashley Seaver. Who in your unit likes blonds?”

Oh back up. “Wait, what?”

“You guys are top of the FBI, right? I’m guessing there’s a waiting list to join you without a specific invitation. And she assigns a 22 year old kid fresh out of the academy. That’s called bait, who does she know well enough to pick someone to appeal to them? Who was she trying to trap in an affair?”

Well, Seaver was not his type, Hotch was still openly mourning Haley, Reid was already going with Elena Rosen at that point without knowing it. “Dave Rossi. He has a reputation for women, including younger and blond. I think he and Strauss even had a thing once.”

“Did he go there with Seaver?”

“I don’t....” Uhhh, Morgan thought about all the times Seaver hung back with Rossi to go over cases, where they usually ended up going out to dinner.

Maddox smiled again. “If he did he didn’t get caught. Good enough. What was Reid up to during this time, what changed about him?”

“He started getting sick, headaches, stomach issues. He couldn’t handle the stress.”

“He couldn’t handle the stress?” Maddox checked one of his files.

“Yeah,” Morgan thought about it a minute. “You think it was something else?”

“Yeah. What though...” Maddox walked in silence for a time. “You said he loves his coffee How much does he drink in a day?”

“I don’t know; maybe a cup every two hours.”

“Big mug?”

“Yeah, maybe 24 ounce. Why?”

Maddox was not Reid, he pulled up a calculator. “95 mg of caffeine in an 8 oz cup of coffee, do not ask how I know, times 3 per cup, times, say, five cups if he has one on the way in...”

“Make it seven, one on the way in, one on the way home and five over the course of the day.”

“...seven cups equals 1,995 mg of caffeine a day.”

“Daymn.”

“That is what we call a habit. I’m assuming he’s not paying for all that.”

“No. Job perk, we have a coffee service that comes in...” The light bulb started going on over Morgan’s head.

“Those big thermoses?”

“Yeah”

“That are supposed to be labeled but never are?”

“Yeah. “

“And he always drinks from the same one?”

“Yeah, the darkest one; he’s the only one who ever does.”

“And when did you change services?”

“Right about that window. Son of a bitch.”

Maddox started laughing. “So he went from 1,995 mg of caffeine a day to 570 overnight. That’s damn near cold turkey. Symptoms of caffeine withdrawal: headache, fatigue, anxiety, irritability, depressed mood, difficulty concentrating and probably sour heartburn from the cheap assed decaf they were using.”

“Every single symptom,” Morgan started laughing along with him. It was childish and silly but it worked.

“He wakes up feeling fine, gets his usual cup, life is good. Then he comes in, thinks he’s getting his next hit, and starts having withdrawal symptoms.” Maddox was almost doubled over with laughter. “Poor guy must have thought he was losing his mind!”

That made Morgan stop cold. “Damn.” Maddox slowed the laughter. “His mother has schizophrenia. It’s genetic; he’s right in the window for starting to show symptoms.”

“Strauss know?” Morgan nodded. Maddox wasn’t laughing now. “Poor guy must have thought he was losing his mind.”

“Damn it.”

Maddox shook his head. “Last one. Why the inquest in September of ’11?’

As Morgan told him the story of Ian Doyle they finally came to a small stream, a nice camping spot with some natural shelter. “How did Strauss react to it?”

“I honestly wasn’t paying attention.” Morgan said.

“Because I can’t imagine the powers that be knowing that Doyle was loose and not informing Prentiss’ chain of command.” They had stopped. Maddox started taking off his gear and making camp.

Morgan followed suit. “But Hotch didn’t know. He would have said something. Meaning Strauss didn’t tell him?”

“You have to wonder.”

“So she tricked JJ into going to a war zone she was not prepared for, tried to trap Rossi in an affair, made Reid think he was losing his mind, and knowingly put Emily in harm’s way.” Morgan was moving past shock to fury. “And now she’s manipulating this. Why?”

“Not a clue. That’s on our list of things to work out.” Maddox started unpacking a bit. “But before we get there we need to get around the brainwashing she’s been doing on your team, starting with you. I need to know what we’re dealing with before we get to your people. I don’t want to have to kill Dr. Reid to get him out of here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In 05x19 “A Rite of Passage” Rossi states that they’re thinking of cutting the coffee service to save budget funds. To which Reid replied “I’d quit”.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

**Day 07**

 

The first thing that had hit Spencer when he entered that last hall was the smell. It was the smell of hundreds of unwashed bodies and stale air and cooking and food and not the best in the way of waste handling. The second had been the sound, hundreds of voices all going at once, sounding something like a jet engine revving. The third had been that he was heading to the source of both...

It was one, giant room. Thankfully the ceilings were high, allowing some air, and there were windows although they were too high for anything but light. There was a wide opening down the center, studded at precise intervals with what looked like brick heating units with chimneys reaching to the ceiling. At right angles to this central space were rows of bunk beds, set end to end, ten to a row. Spencer counted fourteen to a side. The math was easy, twenty to a row, 280 to a side, 560 people could sleep in this room.

There were close to that now.

As the door slammed behind them the people in the room started going quiet. In small patches and then spreading the ones already there stilled and turned to look at the three newcomers. Until eventually it seemed like the whole room was looking at them. “Spence...” JJ breathed in a whisper and pressed closer to him.

All of a sudden something seemed to catch Brian’s attention. “He’s here.” He said. “The guy, he’s here somewhere.” Brian brightened and Spencer saw love come into his eyes.

Which was great for him, but this was not the time. On the other hand right now he had to focus on JJ. Brian was, in the end, other. This was totally against everything he ever learned at the FBI but that feeling was so strong that it was overriding even the deepest ingrained training.

They stood there, looking around; being stared at, until someone finally stepped forward. He was a smaller man, delicate somehow, pale with pale blue eyes and dark hair and a nervous attitude. He circled them once, quickly, and leaned in to actually sniff at them a bit. Then he looked around at the people watching, shook his head, and retreated back the way he came.

The next one to step forward was a woman. She was short, stocky with defined muscles, her shorter hair held back with a cloth twined around her head and a command presence. She took a slightly slower walk around them, sniffed a little less obviously, but also shook her head and retreated.

After her he next man to step forward was completely bald, had the leonine grace of a dancer and an air of unabashed sensuality. He was also accompanied forward by two other men. He almost twined a circle around them, getting right up in their personal space to sniff, gave Spencer a smile of invitation even as JJ shrank back against him. All the while the two men with him looked them over. Spencer had never understood the term undressing someone with your eyes before, but that had to be what this was. Thankfully with a regretful sigh this man shook his head and moved off.

The next man was immense, solid muscle with a long beard and moustache hiding much of his face. He also had two followers, both of whom wore facial hair much the same. He didn’t bother with a look over; he just leaned in and sniffed at them before giving a satisfied grunt and lumbering off.

After him came another woman, one who wore her red hair in braids and had enough of a command swagger to power a city block. She had a man and a woman with her, both of whom also gave off the feel of strong presence, but a small group seemed to cluster behind them.   She took her time, circling them twice, looking JJ over closely, and leaning in to deliberately sniff. But she too shook her head and moved off.

Next up was a man that even someone as straight as Spencer could admire. He was shirtless, his pants riding low on his hips, with the shaggy hair, slight beard and killer abs of a man who had just stepped off the cover of a romance novel. He sauntered his way down from the right side of the room, followed by an entourage. All of a sudden a huge smile broke Brian’s face. “That’s him!” He said quietly. “That’s the guy I’ve been dreaming of!”

“The leader there?” JJ asked.

“No, he’s about four back.” They looked and spotted a slender, young blond man wearing gold nipple rings, of all things. Said man took one look at Brian, pushed his way to the front of the group, and got the leaders attention. After a brief, whispered exchange the leader looked at Brian and nodded.

He took his time, circling them and getting in close to sniff at all three of them. But no one was surprised when he broke into a huge smile, nodded, put his hand on the back of Brian’s neck and led him back to the group. “We’ll find you once this settled.” Spencer said, part of him still thinking they should stay together.

“Sure.” But Brian was distracted. He went straight over to the blond man who greeted him with love in his eyes. The last thing they saw was that young man cupping his face before the crowd swallowed him up.

That left him and JJ. But there was one more leader. He came from the back on the left, was built like Morgan right down to the bald head but about fifteen percent bigger all around. He circled them a few times, leaned in to sniff well. When he did something less tangible than an actual scent but somehow still very real came to Spencer, a scent that told him two things. First was that this was one of their kind somehow, unlike all the others this one was familiar. Second was that he must not back down here. So when this man met his eyes he held that contact, as firmly as he would the most challenging of Unsubs. Some part of him seemed to know that JJ was his now, and this man needed to know that. After a few moments just long enough for the crowd to start to murmur , this man broke into a grin and nodded. "Yil!" he said as he clasped a huge, warm hand to the back of each of their necks. Immediately the entire room seemed to let out a breath and conversations resumed as the ritual ended.

They had been accepted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Casting notes:
> 
> For the leader, the one who chooses Spencer and JJ
> 
> Vin Diesel
> 
> http://images.mid-day.com/2013/oct/Vin-Diesel.jpg


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

**Day 07**

 

What? Morgan stared at Maddox, “What?”

“Not my first choice.” Maddox said. Behind him the guys were building a fire, setting up camp around it, pulling out MRE’s, and going for water from the nearby stream. Maddox moved to their rolling cart of gear and pulled out a fuel can, passing it off to the guys.

“Why would you have to kill him?”

“Okay, social animals in a hierarchic community are assigned ranks for the purpose of ethological studies, right? You familiar with the ranks?”

“Yeah, alpha, beta and omega.”

“In our research, well McGuire’s research, she’s found it a useful metric, her words, to use to describe what happens when someone is infected. It’s actually a direct translation of how it’s described here, in their language kapo, binu and kittah respectfully.”

“Yeah, but people aren’t animals.”

“No, but the ranking still works. Define an alpha male, a human alpha. Psychologically, not socially.”

Morgan considered this. “It’s not always physical.” He admitted. He had discussed this with his therapist recently too. “Not always the bad ass. It’s not about the one who is bigger or stronger or more violent like it is in animals, and I don’t care what those all guy websites say. It’s someone who’s mature, secure in his identity and values, in touch with his emotions and comfortable with being vulnerable. Is respectful around women, okay with them being stronger and maybe more dominant than he is, or if it’s a woman is comfortable stepping up with the men.   It’s the one who steps up to the plate, who is willing to take command, take responsibility for that command. It’s someone comfortable with being made responsible for other’s well being.”

“Great. Define beta.”

Damn, this was harder. “I don’t know. Average. Ordinary. Nothing special.   Most of all, someone who is not comfortable with taking command. They can take care of themselves, they don’t need looking after, but they are not okay with stepping up to that plate. They have to have someone loosely holding the reins, I don’t care if it’s their parents, their boss, local law, God maybe, but they need that outside authority.”

“So maybe 90% of the country?”

“Yeah.” Morgan nodded. That was probably about right.

“Okay, define omega.”

Morgan thought about it. “I don’t know this one.”

Maddox smiled, “Opposite of Alpha but some similarities. Like alphas they’re secure in their identity and values, in touch with their emotions and comfortable with being vulnerable. Where alphas tend to be strong they’re, not weak but delicate, fragile. They don’t do well with conflict, they naturally tend to mediate, to soothe strong emotions. They do a lot better and are a lot happier with an alpha around to help buffer between them and society and in exchange for that they provide emotional support to the big dogs. The big thing is that they’re generally submissive. They give and they give to make the people around them happy and are themselves happiest that way, but they need someone who sees that and gives back with support and reassurance and making sure they also meet their needs.”

Morgan nodded. “Okay, I get it. So how does this apply?”

“Think back to before Strauss started fucking with your team. In these terms define Dr. Reid.”

“Omega.”

“You sure about that? Because that is not what this file is telling me.”

“Yeah...” Huh. Morgan stopped to reconsider.

“I know he’s physically slight, he got waivers for every physical test, and he’s mildly autistic from the looks of it, but neither of those apply here. If I ask ‘does he stand up’ you’ll tell me no, but I don’t think that’s an accurate read on it.”

“Why not?”

Maddox tapped his pad. “The file from before he joined the unit. He looked after his sick mother since he was, what, seven?”

“Something like that.”’

“Why didn’t he go ask someone for help?”

“He figured he could handle the responsibility. And he did.”

“And he took himself off to college, CalTech, at the ripe old age of thirteen, earning three doctorates by the time he was twenty. I don’t know about you but at thirteen the biggest thing I was responsible for was feeding the dog.”

Morgan chuckled, “Yeah, same here.”

“And at the august age of eighteen he put his mother in an asylum. Now if I had to put my mom in a home she’d be so furious she wouldn’t talk to me for years. The thought of it scares me to death. What about you, could you make that decision?”

“Not alone.” Hell no, he would have to get his sisters and his Aunties and anyone else he could drag in to weigh in on that one.  “I could not take responsibility for that one on my own.”

“But he did at half our age.”

“So why doesn’t he step up now?”

“There’s a term they use here, verg a'svis. Loosely translated it means that when you have more than one alpha personality in a group they have to decide on a command order, otherwise they’ll fight constantly and destroy the group.”

“So you’re thinking that Reid is at the bottom of that command order?’

“Yeah, from what I’m reading he’s an alpha, but the youngest and the least experienced out of five, counting Prentiss, this is not gender biased. So he steps up the least often knowing at least subconsciously that he still has learning to do. But I’d bet he has stepped up once or twice, hasn’t he?” Maddox asked as he opened his MRE.

Morgan was about to say no, but then he stopped. He remembered Theodore Breyer and Reid taking off his vest against orders because he knew he could take him down without a fight. He remembered how Reid tried to stop Elle from going off the rails, and how much it upset him that he couldn’t do more. He remembered him taking control of the situation with Hankel, getting information out even as Hankel tortured him, and then him getting control of the problem he had after without help. He remembered him taking control from Hotch and shutting down Chester Hardwick without bloodshed. He remembered his anger at his father but how he still stuck to the case and didn’t let those emotions get the better of him. He remembered him getting between the team and Owen Savage, knowing the kid was the real victim in the case, and how he insisted Adam Jackson go to an asylum over prison. He remembered those and a number of others. “Yeah, he does step up when he needs to. How did I miss this?”

“What does Strauss say about him?”

Damn. “That he is not to be considered part of the command structure. He doesn’t have the physical strength or confidence for it, at least to her. That we need to keep him down, remind him of that. But it’s not always about physical strength, and we’ve mistaken agreeing to be on the bottom of the pole for lack of confidence. He’s always been the one to stand up to her, now that I think about it. Back during the Foyet inquest she wanted to twist it at first be he nailed her with the facts so she couldn’t. Did the same thing at the Doyle inquest, in front of the Senate committee. No wonder she wanted to keep him down. And we all convinced ourselves to keep her happy and out of our hair.” Now that he thought about it Reid might be a bigger threat to Strauss than Hotch, his memory couldn’t be twisted, the facts couldn’t be denied. “But why does this matter.”

Maddox held up a finger to stop him. “Now tell me about Jareau, again from before Strauss started fucking with you.”


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

**Day 07**

"Wirra'di! Wirra'di na' Wa'sgya'oili 5, za'sgksa'oiv A. Na'n nyen I ed zirra'daetk ha'oi na' doiry moin en rieln zi esi phedaerh." With an arm around each he started leading them back to the very furthest left corner, well away from the door and hemmed in by bunks. While much of the room had gone back to their business the people back here were openly staring. It was disconcerting. "I ed Bastian, ryaeiph a'ph a'ois ksa'oiv."

Spencer stopped before they headed down the last row of bunks and turned to him. “I’m sorry. We don’t speak your language.” The larger man turned to him and peered into his face, clearly confused. Spencer was careful to keep his body language open and non-threatening. “We don’t speak your language.” He repeated. “We have no idea what you are saying.”

The large man stepped back and rubbed his chin for a moment. “Yelena!” He called out loudly. “Yelena! "Wyisi ael Yelena.” He looked over at two younger people nearby. "Ya'oi. Ya'oi. Ga' phaetv . Tirr yis I tiiv yis yisi." The two of them scurried off.   Then the large man turned back to them. He placed one hand on his chest and bowed slightly. “Bastian.” He said, and then he lightly placed his hand on Spencer’s chest with an expectant look.

Names, Spencer thought, actual communication. “Spencer.” He said. And then he placed a hand on JJ’s shoulder. “JJ”

Bastian brightened at that. “Spencer. JJ. Bastian. Ga'a'v! Na'z I doiln gta'z zyen ha'oi esi.” He moved slowly and deliberately, stepping in to Spencer’s personal space, placing one warm hand on the back of his neck and the other on his forehead. Instantly Spencer felt some sort of a tingle, and a sense of the power of this man, of the command of him. If he had not known this was the leader here he would at that moment. “Kapo!” Bastian said, letting go and stepping back. "Ya'oi esi kapo. Ga'a'v, zi tiiv da'si. Atv ta'z ha'oi." He carefully stepped up and repeated the process on JJ, who made a small Oh of sound. "Kittah! Wi yesti eta'nyis Kittah. Wa'tvisphoir! Messtira'oil!"

"Syi'l na'a' vsinnh Bastian." Said a small man too young for his grey hair standing nearby, watching this.

Bastian looked around at him and sighed. “Kaeg” He said to Spencer and JJ by way of introduction. The man in questions offered his hand, an apparent universal gesture which Spencer accepted, a handshake brief and firm.

"Tyih ma'ny esi." Said another man. He was as tall as Spencer and nearly as slender and perhaps the oldest man he had seen so far, with a shock of white hair over a lined face. But his eyes were still quick and intelligent.

“Ladz ” Kaeg said as he introduced around again. Ladz also offered his hand to Spencer in a friendly way. Ladsz looked to say more but Bastan led them on. "I'd ephseaev yi ael saekyn. Da' zi yesti eth vsaetg?" This last question was directed at Kaeg.

"Na'. zi oiliv nyi reln a'ph aen na' lin Timoi’s esd."

"Wi zaerr tiiv da'si." Bastian looked around, considering, and then spotted the watch on Spencer arm. He removed it, ignoring Spencer’s sound of protest, looked it over, and nodded. "Hisi." He said to another young man nearby. "Tegi nyael na' Jax. Alg pha's pha'ois ma'nnril. Da't'n ra'di merg zaeny rill nyet nza'." The young man took the watch and headed for the front of the building. In the meantime Kaeg moved down a row of bunks while Bastian led Spencer and JJ down the last row. "Il lyi ha'ois kittah? Syi doiln mi, nyi zeh lyi ael ernaetk. Atv ha'oi esi ma'ny na'a' vsinnh mh phes. Arr saekyn." He took them to the last bunk in the last row, all the way back in the corner and started giving orders as he stripped the beds and removed a number of hidden belongings from each. Within moments things were shifted around and two others were coming back with armfuls of clean bedding. At Bastian’s bidding they gave one each to JJ and Spencer. “JJ” Bastian said, patting the top bunk of the last bed in the last row. “Spencer” He said patting the bottom. "Na'z degi ha'ois mivl." He made a smoothing out gesture over the bottom mattress.

That they had just been given bed assignments could not be clearer. The mattresses felt like straw, the pillows were more than a little flat, the sheets and blankets were worn and old, but compared to the plain wooden shelf back in the lab they would be deeply comfortable. As they worked Spencer had the sense of beds moving, the one next to them and the one past that being shoved aside to make a larger space, the ones in front of those being moved and turned a little to block the way. And people were gathering, some men who hung about the edges, but others who seemed to occupy nearby bunks. A very attractive blond woman came around, and stepped neatly into Kaeg’s arms. “Adriana.” He said by way of introduction. She beamed at them both and then hopped up into one of the upper bunks.

As they worked Ladz stashed some gear under the bunk in front of them. A few moments later young man of about fourteen or fifteen, maybe, squirmed around him. “Aviv.” Was given as his name. He seemed shy, from the way he hid against Ladz, so Spencer only smiled at him.

But it was his condition that caught Spencer’s eye. “JJ.” He got her attention and nodded to Aviv. While so far everyone here had appeared very tired and grimy but healthy, even attractive, Aviv’s condition was something else. His hair had been hacked at until it looked like some of it was falling out, his face was lumpy and misshapen from what had to be broken bones that were never set, he had what looked like bruising under his eyes, his nose had been broken, and when he smiled he showed three missing teeth. But his skin was the worst, his face and arms were traced with shallow, red scars from what might have been pocks or a horrid rash or a chunk of burning hot metal. He was the first one there to look like he had ever been physically ill. “The second inhalation victim.”

“He had the same sort of damage.” JJ confirmed.

But it didn’t seem to matter a whit to anyone. At a word from Ladz Aviv climbed into the bunk above the older man’s and they spoke quietly for a few moments. Over in the other bunk Adriana and Kaeg were looking at each other with love in their eyes as Kaeg pulled on a pair of leather gloves.

"Wyisi ael Yelena?” Bastian said again, looking around at the people who had gathered on the other side of the wall of bunks.

"His rsiz yev na' lneh miyaetv na' lra'ois nyi zenis relgl." Adriana replied to him. "In'l nyiaes taekyn pha's aen."

"I ret nsh na' ifvreaet." Ladz said. “Maybe I help.”

Spencer spun around to look at the older man as JJ started. “You speak English!”

The older man gave him a little smile. “Some. A little. My friend teach me. You are from Earth, yes?”

“Bahh! Tyisi ael ta' naedi pha's ra'tk ifvretenaea'tl.” Bastian interrupted, looking frustrated. "In'l Fsaeveh. Wi retta'n zeaen na' lii aeph lyi ret ifvreaet." Just then the man who had been sent off with Spencer’s watch came back. He presented Bastian with a bag that turned out to carry three corked bottles of clear liquid. Bastian set one aside and held one each in his hands. He turned and looked at Spencer and JJ, took a breath, and started into what sounded like a little speech. "I gta'z nyael ael ka'aetk na' mi yesv. Kta'z nyen ha'ois mata, zyit ha'oi phaetv nyid, zaerr oitvislnetv, etv nyen zi va' nyael a'oin a'ph ra'sti pha's ha'oi el a'ti a'ph oil." He motioned them out into the center of the space. "Na'z, ra'di etv rinl kin lnesniv."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Casting notes:
> 
> We have a lot of new characters introduced here.
> 
> Gerard Butler as Kaeg
> 
> http://collegetimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/gerard.jpg
> 
> Teresa Palmer as Adriana
> 
> http://us.cdn001.fansshare.com/photos/teresapalmer/teresa-palmer-russell-brand-russell-brand-679690261.jpg
> 
> Sir Ian McKellen as Ladz
> 
> http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9057284.ece/alternates/w620/russia-lgbt-afpgt.jpg
> 
> And William Moseley as Aviv
> 
> http://gameofkings.wdfiles.com/local--files/lyam/Lyam1.jpg


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

**Day 07**

 

Maddox held up a finger to stop him. “Now tell me about Jareau, again from before Strauss started fucking with you.”

Morgan cracked into his dinner and considered. “She never wanted to be a profiler. Hotch kept asking her but she always said she didn’t like conflict, didn’t want to be the one to go out there. She was the mediator, the politician, the one who worked the press and liaised with the locals and smoothed out all those bureaucratic knots. The only times she ever pushed was when someone needed help, usually women or children. She carried, we all do, and she was good but the only time she drew on a person was when they were about to shoot up the bullpen. Long story there. She’s an amazing mom, calls her son every night to read him bedtime stories. There was this one time, she convinced the locals to reverse engineer the Emergency Broadcast System so she could talk one Unsub out of hurting a child by appealing to his love of his mother.” Morgan thought about it. “You’re going to tell me she’s an omega.”

“I’m going to tell you she was in the sandbox for over a year.” Maddox looked at her file. “She came back to the states for two weeks the end of March of ’11. Two months later her convoy was hit. She suffered a miscarriage among her injuries.”

What? Morgan pulled the pad over and had a look. “She never said anything!”

Maddox held up that finger again. “Hold up. First off, what kind of woman knows she’s going back into that hell and doesn’t tell her man to wrap the Winnebago?”

Morgan thought about that, but there was only one answer, “One who cares more about making her man happy by giving him a baby than her own health. She’s an omega.”

Maddox nodded, “Another term around here, msa'git va'rr. The concept refers to something like broken kittah, broken omega. That’s what happens when you send one into an unsafe, unstructured situation with lots of violence and no command structure. The elders say things like they have to put up their own walls to protect themselves because no one will protect them, then the true heart falls back within for safety and they become a different person. I’m gonna guess that she’s gotten real gung ho about training, always wants to be out there on the line now, the first to wade in to a fight...”

“Oh yeah. She’s been pushing me hard for it ever since, well, ever since she got back. Taking all the advanced courses, the whole bit. Now that I think about it it’s a total 180 from what she was before. So we’re talking dissociation, maybe even depersonalization from PTSD, overcompensating for the trauma of being out there?”

“Something like that. But at heart she’s an omega. And Dr. Reid is an alpha. Kittah and kapo.” Maddox cracked open his second MRE.

“Okay, I’m tracking. But why does this matter?”

“In uninfected humans, or aliens here for that matter, things like being alpha or beta or omega make up a very small part of our overall personalities. Logic and experience, things like that, are much more important. And even after infection, most people who start out average stay average, nothing really changes. But remember how I said the prions rewire your brain? For people who start out alpha or omega sometimes it can take those traits and blow them up by about a thousand. Alphas get to where they get literally sick if they don’t have someone to look after; omegas without someone looking out for them will crawl into bed and stop functioning. Eventually they learn to live with that, to work out how to function with these new traits to get back on track, but when it first happens it can be a huge part of their make-up.”

Now it was starting to make sense. “You think Reid’s going to be looking out for JJ.”

“Yeah. And the problem is while I’m the hieratical leader in this group of betas,” He indicated his team, “Dr. Reid doesn’t know me from Adam. If I get in there and start ordering ‘his’ omega around he’s liable to turn this into a dominance fight.”

Morgan laughed at that. “Reid’s not a fighter.”

“No, he _wasn’t_ a fighter before he was infected. Remember how I said it also re-wires your DNA and changes the proteins in your body?” Maddox pulled a thick bladed survival knife from his belt, passed it over so Morgan could feel the weight and the thickness of the metal, then took it back and casually bent it in a U shape. “I have no desire to take on a pissed-off, scared out of his mind alpha trying to protect his omega. His new instincts will literally make him fight to the death. That means we need to be real careful around that attachment until we can get them back to base and in with McGuire’s people. Thankfully she’s trustworthy.”

Damn. “Makes sense to me. You couldn’t get that from the briefing?”

“Nope. Strauss was making it sound like Jareau was the alpha and Reid was the omega. But she also smelled like lies, she was deliberately manipulating me. You, on the other hand, believed it until you thought about it. You smelled honest.”

That was the sort of misinformation that got people killed on missions like these. Once again Morgan stamped down his fury at Strauss. “I was, until I thought about it.”

“Well, now we know.” Maddox looked up at the trees. “Why is the big question.”

“You have any ideas there?”

“Nope. Except that it involved Donaldson, and Strauss is willing to lean on Jareau and Reid to make it happen.”

“Lean?”

Maddox pulled out his smartphone and started playing.

_“Are you sure they’ll be willing to transfer?” Donaldson asked._

_“I got Agent Jareau to accept a transfer into Operation:Classified.” Strauss replied._

_“This won’t be that easy.”_

_“Agent Jareau has a young son at home, and a husband at DC Metro. Dr. Reid as a mother in residential care. There is leverage there.”_

“Son of a bitch!” Morgan said. He got up and paced around the camp. He had to or else blow a gasket or something. “I did not just hear that!”

“The question is what are they transferring them to?” Maddox looked up in the trees. “Going to be interesting when we get back and find out. I may have to bring popcorn to that one. It’s getting dark enough, let’s turn in. I want to head to the rebel village at first light.”


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

**Day 07**

 

Spencer looked around as he and JJ stepped into the middle of the space. Without realizing it they had been surrounded, mostly by large, muscular men. “Spence,” JJ said, a nervous quaver in her voice. “What is this?”

“Some kind of ritual maybe.” He said.

In the meantime Ladz had been saying something to Bastian. Now the older man considered this, as if trying to figure out how to explain. “You and your kittah.” He pointed to JJ. “You are too....what’s the word... vsinnh.” He said that and passed a hand over his face. “Vsinnh. Vsinnh.” He repeated the gesture, smiling broadly. Then he pointed to Adriana. “Nice faces, like Adriana.”

It took a moment but it finally clicked. “Attractive? Good looking? Pretty?”

“Pretty! Yes, that’s it, pretty, Thank you.” That was the world Ladz had been looking for. “Adrianna is pretty, Aviv is pretty, your kittah is pretty, yah?” Spencer nodded. “Okay. See the guards?” He pointed to the front of the room. It stretched up to a third floor, where a catawalk spanned the front, giving access to the hallways and stairs going down. Up there two guards stood not paying that much attention to the crowd below.

“Yeah.” Spencer nodded.

“Those are the regulars. They have officers too, yah? Tonight, the officers celebrate.” He gestured like he was drinking from a bottle. “They will come, looking for new people to...to...take.”

The way he said it made the meaning clear. “Take.”

“Yah, yah. So we can make you like my young friend there.”   He gestured to Aviv. “Or you can see and wait. But you must choose, there is little time.”

“What’s he saying Spence?’

“They want to disfigure us so we won’t be raped by the guards.” He met her wide eyes as she groaned. “I think it would be a lot easier to heal from a beating after.”

“Oh god! I don’t know....”

“You have to make your own decision here, but remember the three victims we had that were raped.” They hadn’t just been raped. That had been sado-masochistic torture. In a situation like this the guards could likely do anything they liked, no limits.

Her blue eyes shimmered up at him. “I know, but I can’t...”

She couldn’t make that decision, this was all too much for her, the past weeks, the past years, had pushed her beyond her limits.  It was up to him. He could not imagine rape, that pain, that loss of control was one of his greatest fears, and the thought of it happening to her was too much to handle. But he could be all right with the controlled violence and pain of a methodical beating, he knew they could both heal from that. He turned back, met Bastian’s eyes and nodded. “We agree.”

Bastian smiled and nodded in return. Then he pulled the corks from the two bottles and took a drink from each. "Tyili zaerr va' phaeti." He handled one bottle to each of them. "Dsaetg oiv. Ya'oi lya'oirv va'zt en rieln yerph mipha'si zi kin ka'aetk. In zaerr yirv zaeny nyi veaet." He made a gesture like they should drink from the bottles.

Spencer sniffed at the bottle he was handed. It was grain alcohol, Everclear or worse. The harsh scent of it burned out his nose and made his eyes water.

“Does he expect us to drink this?” JJ asked

“It is all we have for pain.” Ladz said.

“Drink it.” Spencer told her. “A lot of it. Being beaten is nothing like sparring in the gym.” He met her wide eyes again. “I’ll protect you.”

“You better.” She replied, and tipped the bottle back.

Spencer turned and handed his bottle back to Bastian. “Can you tell him I want to keep my head clear?” He asked Ladz. “I’ll do this without the bottle.” Ladz translated as Spencer deliberately stripped to the waist, setting his clothing and then his glasses on the bunk, turning the world into a gentle blur. “And ask him not to break our teeth.” He did not want to spend another two months with broken teeth and no dentist handy.

Ladz translated and Bastian replied. “He said he would try.”

Spencer nodded and checked on JJ. She was working her way to being well and truly blitzed, which ought to help her when it was her turn. There was a big difference between sparring in a gym or even fighting off an Unsub and just taking a beating. As far as he knew she had never taken one where she couldn’t or shouldn’t fight back. Whereas he, as he had once pointed out to Hotch, had been a child genius in Las Vegas Central High. One thing he absolutely knew how to do was take a beating and keep his wits about him. Hopefully seeing him first would help. As for himself he knew this was going to be bad but at least he would maintain some control through it all. “All right.”

Bastian gave him a nod that held a great deal of respect. "I ed la'ssh." The older man said again, and then a large, dark shape was moving toward him

The first blow snapped his cheekbone in two.

The blows were regular, even, well thought out. The larger man very methodically broke his cheekbones, his nose and his brow bone, leaving his face a lumpy mess. At the same time someone behind him had a knife and was hacking away at his hair, scraping his scalp at times. The pain was sharp and sickening, but familiar. It was up there with Hankle breaking the bones in his foot, but not nearly as bad as being shot. Nothing he couldn’t handle.

But they weren’t done with him. When they were finished with the hands helped him up to his knees. Bastian was standing there with small lump of pale grey metal in his gloved hands.  “What is that?” Spencer asked as he checked his mouth. Yep, his teeth were all right. Bastian was good at this.

“It burns.” Ladz said. “Very...what is word? Thin? Light? It leaves the marks of sickness behind.”

“Shallow? Like a very little water on the floor.”

“Shallow, yes. Thank you.”

Shallow burns hurt more, but there was a chance the scarring could be repaired when they got home. And he didn’t really need to be the pretty boy to do his work. He set himself and held his arms out to the sides. “Do it.”

"I ed la'ssh." Bastian said once more. Then he gently tipped Spencer’s face over as the other’s held him still and started tracing the metal over his cheeks.

It seared.

Spencer cried out as the smell of his own burring flesh reached his nose. This pain was vastly more than he had ever felt before. It felt like pure fire lightly passing over his skin, tearing it off and leaving nothing but raw pain behind. It took everything he had to stay still and let the other man work. Bastian traced patterns lightly over his cheeks, forehead and jaw, creating a pattern that would not affect his ability close his eyes or his mouth at all. He avoided his neck, likely to prevent constricting scaring and continued on over his collar bone, down his chest, twining over his arms but not his hands, hands which they held tightly and out so he could not fight back out of instinct. Then they pushed him forward, held him there as the burning metal passed over his shoulders and his back. He kept trying to scream but hands covered his mouth and smothered his cries. Bastian even pulled down his pants a little and traced the burning lines over the upper edge of his buttocks and around and over his lower abs in front, getting a lot closer to the root of things than Spencer would like but not going all the way there.

When it was all over Bastian stepped back, walked around him like an artist checking his work. He looked over the damage and nodded. “Ga'a'v. Ya'oi esi ta'n na'a' vsinnh ethda'si. Ha'z ael lyi?" He asked Kaeg. Kaeg stepped back and let him have a look. Spencer looked over at JJ. While he had been distracted they had gone to work on her. Her face was also lumpy now, her bones broken, her body traced with red blotches and burns, her lovely corn silk hair chopped off short and sticking out, barely covering some of the patches of scalp. Ladz had his hands tightly over her mouth to silence her screams. When she looked up she looked like a frightening caricature of the beautiful woman she had been. "Ga'a'v qa'm."   Bastian said to Kaeg as he nodded approvingly.

The ones that had held them now carefully helped them to their feet, as if trying not to aggravate the pain they had just caused. Bastian himself came and gently put the glasses back on Spencer’s face. "I gta'z ha'oi za't'n zetn na' ien na'taekyn." He said as he carefully helped Spencer up and over to sit on his bunk. "Riln zaeny ha'ois kittah. It nyi da'staetk nyi veaet zaerr mi ka'ti etv ha'oi zaerr mi lephi. Ya'oi zaerr lii."

Then Kaeg was helping JJ over to the bunk too. She leaned against him heavily as he put an arm around her. For this moment their world was pain. “I hope this works.” He said to her gently.

“It better.” She replied.

 


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

**Day 07**

Spencer slumped against the bed post. He ached all over, his face was a lumpy, swelling mass of pain, his skin screamed as he felt the air over the raw burns, and his head and stomach dipped and swam in unison as he tried to process. JJ slumped against him, finally sliding so her head was resting on his thigh. He had the bizarre urge to run his fingers through what was left of her hair. Next thing he knew he was, and found that it seemed to comfort her as much as him. This sucked. That this was needed sucked more.

A moment later Aviv, the younger man who had also been punished, was clambering over and around them to spoon up behind JJ. He had removed his shirt, revealing more scars, and now he pulled her back against him and curled around her. She made some noise that was half protest, half relief. “Hey, no, stop that.” Spencer said. But it hurt too much to move to knock the younger man off the bed.

"Let him. It is to help with healing." It was Ladz, crouching in front of the bunk. He held a large wooden bowl or mug of some kind, filled with a clear liquid. This he offered to Spencer. "Here. Drink.” He pressed it into Spencer’s hand, encouraging him to drink it.

Spencer was too foggy to protest, and was relieved to find it was just water. He drank deeply, smiled and nodded. “Thank you. They did enough?”

Ladz considered him a long moment, as he poured more water from the jug he had brought and passed it to Aviv to help JJ drink. “Yah.” He said. “I think so. You look bad now. Sick.”

“Good. How do I say thank you?”

Ladz smiled. “Thank you. Nyetg ha'oi”

Spencer reached over to where Bastian was talking with a few others, and tugged on his pants to get his attention. “Nyetg ha'oi.” He said.

Bastian smiled broadly and nodded. “Ya'oi'si zirra'di.”

“Tonight, rest.” Ladz said. “Tomorrow work with us. Yelana will explain, she is from Earth too.”

Yelena. No, that was too much to hope for. “She has been teaching you English?” He wanted to ask how long she had been there but this planet may well take more or less time to revolve around its sun.

“Yah. Me, now Aviv some. But him only a little time, yah?” All of a sudden a sharp whistle echoed through the hall. “They come. Come on now.” He stood and indicated that Spencer had to as well, even as Aviv started helping JJ to her feet. They stopped and helped them both into the undershirts they had brought with them and then helped them out toward the center space.

Spencer felt himself wavering, the room spinning around him, but Ladz caught him and tried to have him lean on him for support even as Aviv was helping JJ. He had a sense that it would be bad to show weakness here, so he pulled away and forced himself to steady on his own two feet. “I’m good.” He said. “Thank you.”

"Joiln raegi e kapo." Aviv said, gentle tease in his eyes and soft voice.

“Yah.” Ladz agreed, his eyes twinkling. “Just like a kapo.”

“What does that mean?’ Spencer asked.

“You will see. There is time.”

They reached the center and came up behind Bastian. Spencer noted that what had to be group leaders, the ones who had come sniffing around them, were all front and center along the walkway. They were all looking up to that catwalk, where more of what he read as the rank and file guards had come out, these carrying machine guns. That was bad; at that angle and with how packed everyone was in there they could cause carnage if anyone even thought of stepping out of line. A moment later another group in uniform came out. These had to be officers, high, shiny boots and more formal uniforms done up very properly. But they were grinning and laughing and leaning on each other. They’re drunk, Spencer realized, they’ve been partying or something. And someone here is about to be invited to join that party and not in a good way.

The crowd came down the open alley in the middle of the room, with everyone giving them a healthy distance and walked right up to Bastian. Bastian’s smile and body language were open, accommodating, but none of it reached his eyes. What was clearly the leader of the group of guards spoke to him, indicating someone in the middle of the group, someone young with what looked to be a junior officer’s uniform. “The head guard, Rinker, is saying that Paco there is new. He looks for a pet boy to play with.” Ladz hissed in his ear by way of translation. Bastian shrugged and gestured to Spencer and JJ. The officers looked horrified. They recoiled, sneered in disgust. Paco looked at Spencer, then at Rinker and shook his head. Rinker shook his head as well and then asked something of Bastian. Bastian just shrugged in reply, a happy, slightly stupid look on his face. The officers chuckled and moved away. As soon as he turned from them Bastian’s face settled into the intelligence Spencer had first seen and deep solid anger. He started shooing his people back toward the beds. “Rest.” Ladz said, and started helping Spencer back to their bunk.

“What the fuck, man!” Brian called out from somewhere in the room. “What the...” His words were cut short by the sound of skin violently smacking skin.

“Brian.” JJ said, and turned back that way.   Or rather she tried to; Aviv kept a hold of her and kept walking her back to their bed.

“We have to help him.” Spencer agreed. He was a civilian, that was their job damn it.

But Ladz didn’t let him go. “Not your workgroup.” He hissed, and kept dragging him away. “Not your clan. You are za’rph now. He is raea’t. This is on his clan chief.”

“But...but...” Spencer was in too much pain and perhaps a little shock. He wasn’t up to fighting. He let Ladz push him back on the bed and watched the catwalk. After a moment the officers went back up, leading a handful of prisoners who had been made to strip in front of everyone. They included Brian’s dream man, and an openly terrified Brian. “I’m sorry.” Spencer said to his retreating form. He had failed the younger man, although he did not know how he could have fixed this. It was still a failure and it still hurt.

Aviv had pulled JJ’s t-shirt off and pushed her down in the bottom bunk, folding a blanket to keep her from the chill of the wall. Now Ladz took Spencer shirt and hung it from the bed post, pulled off his shoes and removed his glasses before pushing him down next to her. “Rest.” He said.

It had been too much today. JJ was warm and safe against his back, Bastian and Kaeg were close by, which mattered somehow, and this bed was comfortable. He managed to nod once. “Nyetg ha'oi.” He said. And then the darkness took him


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

**Day 08**

In the middle of the night something woke Morgan. He was stretched out under some sheltering branches near to where Maddox was sleeping. What woke him was a pinecone type object that had been aimed at Maddox and missed. “Hey, Cap.” Johnson hissed a whisper as the next one landed on Maddox and he stirred. “We got company.”

Maddox got up on one elbow and took several deep breaths. No, Morgan realized, several deep sniffs. And he didn’t like what he smelled. “Damn.” Maddox said as he scrambled to his feet. “Vasquez, Richmond, get over here and guard Morgan. The rest of you take positions.” He took something from around his neck and passed it off to Johnson. “Go.”

A moment later, Vasquez hauled Morgan out of his bedroll and up to his feet, their backs to the large tree behind him. But he pushed the muzzle of Morgan’s weapon down to point at the ground as Richmond kept hold of his arm. “Don’t shoot her.” He said quietly.

“Her?” Morgan asked

Earlier the men had built a sizable fire in the center of the camp and soaked it in the accelerant from that small fuel can, but they hadn’t lit it at all. Now as the rest of the men melted back into the woods Maddox lit a slow burning match and went to stand by the fire, waiting.  

After a few Morgan heard it. Something large moved through the woods.

No, it was moving toward them.

It was coming straight at them.

I smell like fear, he thought. I smell like fear.

It was right on top of them.

Maddox threw the match onto the fire.

It flared a sudden bright light.

The creature in front of them screamed.

For a long moment Morgan’s mind couldn’t make out the shape of the thing. It was huge, at least seven foot tall at the shoulder. It had hind legs that looked to have one joint too many and ought to run or jump with ease, long, spindly arms with immense claws at the end, and it seemed to be able to go on two legs or four with equal comfort. It had a thick, hard muscled body covered with short fur that looked golden in the fire light. It had a larger head than looked to fit, with a thick, blunt muzzle that opened to reveal a row of razor sharp teeth, and a crest of hair running over the top of its head and down its spine. It had covered its eyes to keep out the sudden light, but as soon as it recovered it advanced on Maddox.

Maddox stood his ground.

It slowly walked right up to him, snarling out a warning or a challenge or a threat.

Maddox didn’t blink.

It stuck its muzzle right up in his face and growled.

Maddox growled right back.

The thing stared at Maddox for a long moment.

Maddox did not drop his eyes.

The creature blinked first. It made a soft, whimpering sound, and dropped its head in this odd way, tipping it sideways so it nearly rested on his shoulder. As it did Morgan could see that it was wearing a collar of some kind, one with a circle of metal mounted in the center with a shimmering, opalescent crystal at the center.

Maddox smiled, seemed to relax, and reached up to run his fingers through the longer hair of its crest. “In ael err saekyn.” He cooed to it in the local language. “Ya'oi esi qoiln ra'ln. Mh za'rph zaerr lya'z ha'oi nyi zeh ya'di.”

Suddenly he heard a human cry off in the woods to the right, and the wet snap of bones breaking. He moved that way, instinctively, but Richmond stopped him. “Nope. Stay here.”

“But...”

“Stay.”

Maddox hadn’t moved. He stood there, petting the beast as he cooed to it and it almost seemed to coo back. Then from off to the right came what had to be the cry of another one of these things. The creature looked that way, looked back at Maddox as if for reassurance, and loped off into the darkness.

Maddox watched it go with a gentle smile. As everyone else stood down Morgan walked up to him. “I thought you said these woods were safe!” He dame near yelled.

“They are.” Maddox said evenly. “Mostly.”

“Mostly? What the hell was that thing?”

“That’s on your don’t need to know list.” Maddox smiled at him before turning back to the men. “Get the fire out so we can get some more rest. I still want to get an early start in the morning.”

* * *

 

The next morning Johnson was missing. And no one seemed the slightest bit worried about it. “You don’t care?” Morgan asked. Okay, yes, he had trust issues. And this guy was pushing every button.

Maddox was packing up. “He went on ahead. We’ll meet him at the rebel encampment.”

“On his own?”

“Yeah.”

“With those things in the woods?”

Maddox finished packing and swung his pack to his shoulders, “Yeah.”

“And you’re okay with that?”

“Yeah.” He got moving toward the rest of the men and the ERV.

Morgan just started after him. That thing had been nightmare fuel, an alien to beat all aliens. And these guys just didn’t seem to care. More than ever he wanted to go back but they were his only way to Reid and JJ. After a long moment he gave up and followed along. “Those things come out during the day?”

Maddox turned to look at him as he walked, “Sometimes.”

Son of a bitch. Morgan sighed deeply, took a firm grip on his rifle, and followed along.

It was going to be a long day.


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

**Day 08**

_“I had a good time tonight.”She said._

_“Did you?”He asked._

_“Umm hmmm.”She replied.“And not just the movie, I enjoy your company.Would you like a cup of tea?”_

_“I’d love one.Is your roommate still up?”_

_“Ummmm.....”She looked at the light flickering under the door.“Either she’s watching TV or she fell asleep on the couch.”She looked back at him.“Maybe not the best night for tea.”_

_“Awww.”He was remarkably disappointed by this.“I’ll see you Tuesday though.”_

_“Yes you will.I’m looking forward to it.”She had dropped and softened her voice to say that and now she stepped deliberately into his personal space, looking down and then up, her eyes wandering from his eyes to his mouth.He took a deep breath, mentally crossed his fingers, and dipped his head to kiss her.Her mouth was warm and sweet and tasted of cinnamon and sugared apples and her body fit perfectly to his.It didn’t last long but it felt like eternity. When it finally ended she didn’t step back right off.“Good night Spencer.”She said._

_That was when the alarm bells usually started screaming in his head.“Good night.”He shrieked at himself to not let go, to follow her in, to make her stop.But he couldn’t re-write what he had seen.He stepped back and she stepped away and turned to open her door.He screamed to catch her, stop her, bring her back but she unlocked the door, gave him a smile and a little wave, opened it and stepped into blackness.He howled to stop, to turn back, but he was helpless to stop himself from turning and walking back to his car as the blackness swallowed her._

_“Claim me.”Said the figure standing in front of him in the waist deep meadow.“Take me.Make me yours.”_

_“I would have.”He said to the figure in shadows.“But the monsters took you.You’re gone.”_

_“Open your eyes.”_

* * *

 

Spencer opened his eyes.

For a moment he was disoriented.He was lying in a dark place, reasonably comfortable, with the sense of lots and lots of people around him.But it didn’t feel at all unsafe, just strange.And there was someone in bed with him.

After a moment he caught his bearings.In the soft, barely there light of oncoming dawn he identified the mountain in the bunk opposite him as Bastian, the pile in the bed below him as Ladz with Aviv’s hand hanging down from the bunk above him, the pile in the bunk kitty corner as Kaeg and Adriana.And that was JJ pressed up against his back, safe between him and the wall, her breath puffing against his shoulder in the soft rhythm of sleep.

Open your eyes.

Adriana’s bunk was empty, she was down with Kaeg.JJ’s bunk was empty, she was behind him.And...he looked at the bunk over Bastian.

In the faint pre-dawn glow two eyes looked back at him.

As he watched a very feminine figure slipped quietly off the bed.She climbed down so gently and gracefully Bastian didn’t even falter in his snore.She wrapped herself in her blanket and slowly, cautiously, made her way over to crouch beside his bed.He caught her scent then, gardenias or maybe jasmine, but really something rich and rare that brought back memories of warm days and academic halls and a movie that he wished had never ended.By the time she settled he knew.He knew wishes did come true.“Elena.”He whispered.

“I knew you would come.”She said in a voice so quiet he could barely hear.“You really are my hero.”She reached up and gently cupped his cheek.

With that touch something moved in him.It wasn’t just fondness, or friendship, or even the love that had been growing between them unfolding and coming into the light at last.This was deeper, harsher somehow.Possessive.Primal.With that one touch he felt his eyes dilate, he heard his heartbeat speed up and he instantly sprang the hardest erection he’d ever felt in his life.What was worse was that he knew her body was making itself ready, he could smell it on her.Claim her, she had said, take her.He would, he could right now.

Yeah, not going to happen.

“Spencer?”She whispered, her voice somewhere between a whimper and awe.

No matter how sick he was he was not going there.If they were safe in a private bedroom with backup minutes away maybe.But not now and not here.He reached up and trapped her hand against his cheek, turned to kiss the pulse he could feel thundering through her veins.The next thing he knew she leaned in and pressed her lips to his.

This did not help the matter.

He had never in his life been truly violent toward women.Sure, there had been a few times he had to deal with female Unsubs, but outside of that life or death situation he had never in any way been at all forceful or even that assertive.No son raised by Diana Reid would ever do more than put themselves out there and let the woman in question make the first move.But something inside him rumbled and woke and he reached up and threaded his fingers in her short hair and held her there as he kissed her harder than he thought possible.It was a ravaging kiss, one that opened and demanded that he know her scent and her taste intimately and well, and insisted that she know his and never forget.It was a kiss that took and claimed and allowed no quarter at all.

It was a kiss that did not stop until he felt JJ twitch behind him and heard her cry out faintly in her sleep.

He stopped.He held her there, inches from his eyes.Before this went one moment farther, before this sickness drove them past all boundaries, there was one thing that he needed to know.And not with the primitive, re-written parts of his brain, with the parts that were still his to control.He needed to hear it, not just know it.“Mine?”

In the dim, pale, pre-light of dawn he finally saw crystal blue eyes again, and the softest of lips and a gentle pixie smile.“Yours.”

He smiled and pulled her in to kiss her again, this time all gentle, human love.“Yes.”He said.“Marry me?”

“Yes.”She replied against his lips.“Yes.”

And everything was wonderful again.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 26**

**Day 08**

The bunks were a bit larger than an Earth twin, JJ was a slender size 2, Elena was no bigger anymore, and he tended to disappear when he turned sideways, so Spencer lifted the covers and scooted back a bit. A moment later Elena was pressed up against him, molded perfect to his frame, a sensation which somehow managed to drop his stress level into the floor while at the same time not helping another problem coming up. “Sorry.” He whispered.

“It’s all right.” She whispered back into the hollow of his throat.

He could tell that she was reacting in the exact same way. He couldn’t put a finger on how but that heavenly delectable scent was rising which probably had something to do with it. “Not here.” Not in a room full of people and not in this situation.

“No.” She agreed, “When we get home though. We are getting home?”

That did not help matters at all. “Yes.” This was inevitable now. This would happen. Not until they got back to Earth and had access to a private hotel room, but this would eventually happen. And he would find a way to get her home somehow. “I’m amazed we’re actually thinking it.”

“It’s the sickness.” She said, “Although it doesn’t hit our strain nearly as badly as some of the others. Go to the other side of the room and about half way up and there’s probably an orgy going on.”

Uhhh, yeah. No. “I’m glad we got a mild version.” Having to tuck away an ill timed erection was one thing. An orgy was something entirely different and so very not him. Anyway, he was going to continue to be a gentleman and ignore that. It would go away eventually. “What happened?” He asked.

Elena sighed. “It seems like forever ago. I went camping with my roommate and her friends. By the time we got there I knew it was going to be a horrible time. I went walking looking for cell service so I could call you to see if you would rescue me again. While I was out I spotted something in the grass and picked it up. Then everything went dark.”

That was how the Unsub was catching people, something sparkly to use as bait. You see it, you pick it up for a closer look, and you just disappear without a trace. “And you ended up in the woods here?”

“No...I ended up in a testing chamber at Lellit University. Apparently they were testing wormhole devices, sending small ones through to gather data.” Spencer couldn’t help it, he started very quietly chuckling. “What?” Elena asked.

“Someone from here has been collecting people to use as lab animals for I suspect vaccine research. Unauthorized. We were investigating it as a serial killer. And you’re saying in the middle of that some other researcher blundered in...”

Now she was quietly laughing too, “Battle of the scientists. You should have seen the shock on their faces; they expected a recording device with data, not a sentient being. Of course I didn’t understand the language then but you could tell that they were falling all over themselves trying to figure out what happened. And I’m standing in the middle of this sci-fi movie. Honestly, all I kept thinking was that Spencer is going to die when I tell him this.”

He would have. He would have believed her and milked it for every detail and then some. “So why didn’t they send you back?”

“Something about the equipment; I mean you could tell from their body language that something had gone really wrong. When we were finally able to communicate on that level I found out that all of the other devices they needed had been stolen and replaced with fakes.”

Oh, that clicked. “Probably by our Unsub.” They stole the devices from an authorized lab to use in an unauthorized experiment. It wasn’t like it had never happened before.

Elena nodded against his chest. “They didn’t know what to do with me so Ladz took me home to sleep on his couch.”

“This Ladz?” He asked, meaning the one in the bunk right below him.

“Yeah, Dr. Ladz Killris, from their physics department, or close to. He was one of the lead researchers on the project.”

Okay, now Spencer was just fascinated. “I really need to talk to Ladz.” If for no other reason than that was a mind that needed plumbing. “How long were you there?”

“About six weeks while they were trying to build a device to send me home. They run on paperwork like we do, I swear. I kept thinking, Spencer and Dr. Blake must be frantic. But at the same time it was a whole new planet, new culture, new language.”

“What an opportunity.” He had been frantic, so had Alex. But if she had come back then, perfectly all right with a mind and maybe notebooks bulging with data collected here they would have understood instantly and been excited for her. “How did you end up in here?”

She sighed once more. “Not long before I arrived Ladz broke up with someone. His ex must have been watching the apartment, saw me living there. One day he broke in and attacked me, some jealous fit. Then he injected me with something. Ladz got home just as he finished and they fought, and he ended up injecting him as well. We tried to run away but before we could someone turned us in to the Testers. We’re been in here ever since.”

Over a year. She had been in this prison for over a year, for the crime of being curious. Not fair, not fair at all. “And you’re...all right?” He didn’t know how to gently ask what he was asking.

“If you mean have I been raped, no.” She replied. “Ladz is gay, and Bastian wouldn’t and he’d kill anyone who tried. They’ve been looking out for me this whole time. Bastian marked me so the guards would stay away...”

“He marked us too. My face still hurts.” But not nearly as badly as it had, and he no longer felt the burns.

“It’ll stop soon. No, no one’s hurt me, but I want to go home Spencer. It’s hell in here. I want to go home.” Her voice was starting to break. “Please tell me you have a way to go home.”

“I do. I need to talk to Ladz but I’m pretty sure I do.” He heard her catch her breath. “But not for another eighty-two days.”

“Eighty-two...” He could almost feel her spirits falling, her breath hitching in her throat.

“You made it this far, you can make it. We can make it.”

He held her as her tears fell hot against his skin.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 27**

**Day 08**

Spencer held Elena against him as her tears slowly seeped into his skin. She was so very upset, she desperately wanted to go home, but there was something more. She said this place was hell, but from what he had seen so far the chief complaint might be boredom. No one had hurt her, there was water available and some kind of food since people didn’t seem overly emaciated, and if the bit last night with his watch and the alcohol was any indication there was some kind of black market system for small luxuries. Something else had to be going on.

He could finally see her face in the growing light. Yes, the roughness he felt under his hand were shallow burn scars twisting her skin, and yes, her features were distorted and yes, her thick brown curls had been butchered into short spikes, but none of that mattered. Those crystal blue eyes were still full of the strength and intelligence he remembered, even if now they were tinged with fear. “Why is this place hell? Tell me.”

“It’s the factory.” She said. “The work. It never ends. It...” She shook with silent sobs in his arms. “Every morning I think I can’t. I’m just going to stay here and let them shoot me.”

“No.” That wasn’t going to happen. She could not give up now. “We can get through this. You won’t be alone anymore.” But she just kept crying.

The slowly growing light was waking the others. Thankfully Ladz was one of the first. Spencer looked down as the movement caught his eye. He checked in with Aviv, then carefully sat up and looked over. “Good morning.” He said.

“Good morning.” Spencer wasn’t going to move Elena until she wanted to and JJ was still asleep. He wasn’t going anywhere.

Ladz nodded. “Good morning. Ga'a'v da'staetk.”

First lesson in language. “Good morning. Ga'a'v da'staetk.” At least he wouldn’t forget that one.

Ladz nodded approvingly. “You are Dr. Spencer Reid, of the FBI and Georgetown University. Specialized in Mathematics, Chemistry, Linguistics and Criminology, or so Yelena said last night.” Spencer nodded. It was close enough. “And I am Dr. Ladz Killris, specialist in mathematics and physics, if I translate correctly, of Lellit University.” He looked around with a bleak expression. “At least I was.”

“Nice to meet you Doctor,” Spencer said quietly.

He nodded to the girl in Spencer’s arms. “Yelena also said you were denil.” He sighed and shook his head. “Every morning she cries. Aviv does as well, he will when he wakes.”

Spencer couldn’t do anything but gently stroke her hair. “Denil. I don’t know what that means.”

Ladz considered a moment. “And I do not know your word. We will think on this after the work.” He reached over to find his pants, causing Spencer to look politely away.

Which caused him to look over at Bastian. “I ed ta'n kaestaetk oiv dh miv la' ha'oi ret yesti da'si sa'a'd, I va't'n resi ya'z deth kaesrl zetn na' lriiv zaeny ha'oi.” The larger man said without opening his eyes, prompting Elena to start mixing her sobs with laughter.

Ladz was chuckling as well. “He says he is not giving up his bed so you can have more room, you know, by shoving over. He does not care how many women you sleep with.”

Spencer could feel his ears burning. But at least it had Elena laughing through her tears. She looked over at Bastian. “Mh miv ael phsii.” She said, causing him to slit open one eye to look at her and then go back to pointedly ignoring all of them. “I told him my bed was free.” She said to Spencer.

By now he couldn’t help shaking with silent laughter. He tried to control it but it was enough to start easing JJ from her rest. “Will, what time is it.” She mumbled as she stretched an arm over him, only to come into contact with Elena on the other side. He could almost feel JJ wait....And then jerk awake, half sitting up in her panicked disorientation. “Spence?”

“Good morning.” He said, not having nearly enough room to roll over or even move. “Ga'a'v da'staetk In the local language. “Oh, JJ Jareau, Elena Rosen.”

“Good morning.” Elena said from where she was curled up against his front.

“What?” Yeah, JJ looked like she could use three coffees and a good briefing before she went any further. But it was starting to kick in. “Oh my god.”

“Yep. She’s alive.”

“Ahhh!” JJ flopped back down, clearly needing more time to process.

Spencer turned his attention back to Elena, cupping her cheek and drying her tears. “Can you make it through today?” He asked gently. She took a deep breath, steeled herself, and nodded. “Good.” He kissed her lightly and helped her out of bed.

As she went for her pants on the next bed over he sat up and scooted over which gave JJ room to move. “This place probably has prison bathrooms, doesn’t it?” She asked.

“If you mean unisex and no doors, yeah,” Elena replied. “This is the best time though, most people aren’t up yet.”

“Showers?”

“When the guards let us, kind of randomly.”

“Uniforms?”

“I can see what kind of spare clothing we can pull out of the bin. Are you wearing a sports bra?”

JJ frowned at this. “Yeah, why?”

“It’s the best thing to work in.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, you’ll see.” Elena looked down at Bastian. “Wi esi ka'aetk na' nyi na'aerin sa'a'd.” She said

“Tegi ra'stisma'h el et ilra'sn. Ya'oi tiiv ethnyaetk hirr.” He replied before rolling to snuggle into his pillow for a few more minutes.

She sighed and looked over at Spencer. “He said we need a safety escort.”

Well, he had been planning to go anyway. He nodded and let her lead the way.

A few very unpleasant minutes and much polite not paying attention later they returned to the main room with a bundle of what looked to be old charity shop rejects under their arms, only to find most of the room waking and breakfast being handed out. Spencer found himself doing a lot more polite looking away as the majority of the room was in various states of undress, with fully naked the most common. “Wow, okay.” JJ said. “Please tell me this isn’t just for our benefit.”

“No, most people don’t bother anymore. I think they figure that since society has given up on them they should give up on society. Be the animals they say we are.” She pushed her way in to a food cart and passed back bowls. “Bastian doesn’t allow that sort of thing. According to him just because they see us as animals it doesn’t mean we need to act like them.” She led the way back to their bunks.

Spencer could tell when the bunks occupied by Bastian’s group started, when you hit the bunks where people were clothed, beds were being made, and there was a sense of general useful occupation. “I think I’m glad we ended up with him.”

“I know I’m glad we ended up with him.”

When they returned Ladz and Aviv were sitting on the floor with their breakfast, as if they were having your average carpet picnic, except for the prison surroundings and the bowls of plain, thick, gooey porridge that passed for breakfast. Aviv was scrubbing at his eyes like he was trying not to cry. “It’s been hard on him.” Elena said quietly. “He’s only been here a few weeks.”

“How did he get here?” JJ asked.

“I’m not sure. Something about his family, he won’t talk about it.”

“Ladz isn’t family?” JJ asked.

“No, they found each other here. I think Aviv is still in his early teens, Ladz taught what we would call high school before he got his doctorate, he’s been looking out for him. “

“Ah.” JJ looked from her to him. “And what about you two?”

Deni, Spencer thought, it means claimed. I don’t know how but I just know that. I have claimed, no will claim, intend to claim Elena. “We’re getting married.” He said to JJ, causing Elena to blush. “I asked her earlier this morning.”

She nodded, “Great timing there Spence.”

“You got engaged in the ER right after a bank robbery.  Probably something to do with nearly losing Will.” 

“Good point.”

Had they not been stuck in prison, had they all been sleeping in Ladz’s guest room with a set time to explore, he’d be having the time of his life right about now. “I wonder...”

Suddenly a whistle sounded. “That’s the ten minute warning.” Elena said, taking her last bites and scrambling to her feet as others did the same. “We have to get ready for work. Leave anything heavy from your pockets here under your pillow, no one will bother it. Spencer, leave your glasses and take off everything above the waist.”

“Everything?” Shirtless was not his most comfortable state. “I can’t see without my glasses.”

“You won’t need to. You don’t want them broken. JJ, just the sports bra, trust me.” Elena stepped in the snug corner behind their bunk and faced the wall to change, pulling off her shirt and into her own bra.

“You’re serious.” JJ said.

“Unless you prefer topless. You’ll regret anything else.” She had a second pair of pants there, these heavier, and was quickly changing. “Hurry. If you’re in here after shift change the guards shoot.”

They made ready quickly, JJ taking the corner after Elena left it. When they started moving toward the door they quickly realized that topless was the uniform of the day, for men and women. All of a sudden something smacked Spencer on the shoulder. He turned to find Bastian handing him a pair of heavy work gloves. “Ya'oi vsa'philla'sl. Soiry viraereni yetvl.” He said.

Before Spencer could say thank you they were pressed into the crowd and down the stairs to the factory.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who were wondering it is a substitution cypher.
> 
> G G  
>  o a'  
>  o a'  
>  v d
> 
> m d  
>  o a'  
>  r s  
>  n t  
>  i ae  
>  n t  
>  g k
> 
> As you will note it does not substitute capitols
> 
> G G  
>  g k
> 
> If you really want to pick it apart go for it.
> 
> the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog  
>  nyi joiaerg msa'zt pha'f qoidvl a'stis nyi reph va'k


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

**Day 08**

As they hiked along Morgan began picking up on details. Like that Johnson’s pack was now in with the gear on the ERV. And that Vasquez was carrying Johnson’s rifle. “Johnson went on ahead without his gear or his weapon?’ Morgan asked.

Maddox looked around at him. “Good eyes.”

“He did?”

“Yeah.”

“With those things out there?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re not going to explain that, are you.”

Maddox pretended to consider a moment. “Nah.”

Right.   They walked for a while, then Morgan decided to try a different tactic. “You know that thing was wearing a collar of some kind.”

Maddox didn’t turn around but from his body language that got his back up. “Yep. Good eyes.”

“People keep those things as pets around here?”

“No. And suggesting that is a good way to get the fight going.”

Aha. That was a sore spot. “Good to know. So what was it then?”

“On your don’t need to know list. Your best bet? Just don’t talk about them. To anyone.”

Yep, sore spot. Morgan filed that and walked for a while longer. “So how did you all catch this anyway? No offence but I want to make sure I don’t.”

Maddox considered this for a minute. “Okay, you need to know this. Most of the time people who are infected are not all that contagious. I mean, it’s a blood born pathogen like HIV or Hepatitis only with even less of an infection risk. You follow the same protocol like you do for those and you’re golden.”

“So it shouldn’t be a problem unless one of them gets injured in the field, then all we have to do is glove up.”

“Yeah. And they issue us MedicAlert bracelets so the first responders can call in and get the specifics. Not a huge deal, the standard protocol first responders use will protect them. But then there’s what we call the shifted phase of the disease.”

“Shifted?”

“Yeah. It only occurs one of three ways. Here on Voirret you have to use something called a shifting device to make yourself go that way. Most people who are infected never see one. Still don’t, long story short owning one is a capital crime these days.”

“Okay, how else?”

“Under the right environmental conditions it can happen on its own. The bad news is that we have those on Earth. That’s what happened, one of my guys, Sawyer, got infected here only we didn’t know it. We went back, the environmental conditions were just right on the night we landed, he shifted, boom, infected everyone in the launch room.”

“So when you’re in the shifted phase it’s easier to infect others?”

“Oh yeah. Almost inevitable. That’s why we wear these things.”   He held up his arm to show Morgan a thick metal and black wrist band. “It’s called an inhibitor, keeps it under control unless the conditions are optimal.”

“Do they ever get optimal?”

“Only about 12-14 times a year. Thankfully it’s predictable; when it comes up we all get 16 hours of quarantine up at Detrick.” Maddox looked back and smiled. “They even bring out the good chow for it.”

“How do you know when it’s coming about? I mean it’s predictable, how?”

“You can calendar it, they do for us. But you don’t mean that, or the constant phone calls and text messages or the inevitable having the Air Force show up at your door and escorting you to the plane right now, thank you. No, the only physical warning you get in the days leading up to it is that these things start itching like a bitch.”

“So the rest of us won’t get any warning?”

“Maybe two minutes. Then they _will_ infect you.”

“Damn.” Well, Reid and JJ were just going to have to make that appointment. “How long does it take to recover after?”

“The sixteen hours includes recovery time. You walk into the facility by 6pm, you walk out by 10 am the next day and you are good to go.”

He said it like it was a desirable thing. ”You make that sound like a good thing.” Morgan said.

“It feels like a mini-vacation, swear.”

Morgan chuckled. “If it’s that good I might have to see about joining them.”

Maddox chuckled right back. “No. You won’t.”

* * *

 

After making their way through both an outer and inner picket line they finally made their way into the village, as Maddox called it. It was both very close to and more than Morgan had been expecting. Collections of somewhat odd looking vehicles that could only be campers, each knot of which was augmented by a brace of tents set up in a sort of family group. There were nine of these, some considerably larger, some being only two vehicles, all set up around a central square. There they found a rough kitchen building and an old stone cottage which seemed to house central command. But it was all a lot cleaner than he had been expecting, neatly organized with a sense of useful purpose. These were not a people who had given up their dignity or their hope.   “And now we get attacked.” Maddox said as they stepped into view.

“Oh?” Morgan asked. None of them seemed like they had their guard up. A moment later he saw why,. they were swarmed, by a running, laughing, joyful flock of children. “Is this why you brought that bag of Halloween candy?”

“Oh yeah.”   They stopped long enough to hand out bits of sweets, which gave Morgan time to realize that they really did look that human, then they continued on, trailing a happy little band. “The leader’s name is Xetvis.” Maddox said as they walked in to camp. “Major Xetvis Cessa.”

“Major?” Morgan asked.

“Up until about fifteen years ago the government was a constitutional monarchy. Someone got their nose out of joint, there was a coup, a military junta took over, you know the drill. That’s when they came up with the quarantine laws against the infected, most of the noble families were carriers, it was a point of pride.”

“And what better way to round up your enemies and their supporters, given that those would be the ones most likely to be infected.” Morgan nodded. “This is starting to make more sense.”

“Xetvis was a lieutenant when it all went down. He’s one of the ones still loyal.”

“Which side are we on, officially?”

“Officially we’re not taking sides. Officially no one knows we exist. Unofficially, well, you know how we do with democracies.” Maddox flashed that smiled again.

“Yeah.” The ERV carried some of their extra gear, sure. But the majority of its load looked to be munitions. Clearly we were officially unofficially supporting the royalists here.

“Anyway, Xetvis has been shaking his intel networks trying to get a line on your Unsub.”

“In exchange for...” Morgan gestured to the ERV

“Something like that.”

“Maddox.” The man who stepped out of the cottage was stocky, of average height, with a neatly trimmed beard and the gentle eyes of a poet. The two men greeted each other with an embrace and smiles. "In ael ka'a'v na' lii ha'oi ekeaet."

"In ael ka'a'v na' sinoist. Meh I aetnsa'voiri SSA Derek Morgan. Tyi la'rvaeisl zya' yesti ka'ti daellaetk esi phsa'd yael verg. Hi va'il ta'n hin lvieg ha'ois retkoieki."

“Then we will speak his language. Xetvis Cessa.” The man said, offering his hand to Morgan.

Morgan accepted, of course. “Thank you for all of your help.”

“Of course. Of course. Anything we can do. It is bad enough that we must suffer this cruelty. To bring in those from another world should be unthinkable. Please, come in.” He invited them into the main room of the cottage, which looked to be his operations center. Morgan didn’t even pretend that he could read the notes lying around, but he could tell maps and charts when he saw them. Xetvis turned to Maddox. “Your Johnson came to us last night. He is resting in the back. Thank you for the help.”

“Oh, excellent. No problem.” As Morgan watched Maddox headed toward the back of the shed.

“I have some news that is good and some that is not.” Xetvis said to Morgan. “But none that is as bad as death.”

“That’s always good.” He watched Maddox pulling something over his head and tucking it down his shirt as he came back out. “Do we want to start with the good news?”

“Yes, we believe the last of the scientists who have been taking your people have been arrested.” He pulled out reports with what looked like mug shots of a middle aged man and woman. “They were arrested early yesterday afternoon and are to be charged with illegal experimentation among other crimes.”

That would hopefully stop the original case. “Did they say anything about people being held there?” Morgan asked.

“No, but it did say that a Tester was in attendance. If they had not been infected they would have been taken to hospital. Since they were not they must have been found to be infected and so were taken to one of the workhouses.”

Maddox made a very unpleasant noise. “What?” Morgan asked.

“I was hoping this wouldn’t happen. A workhouse is like a Supermax with a side of hard labor. They force the infected to work in the factories so healthy people don’t have to take health and safety risks.”

Morgan’s stomach started sinking. “Serious?”

“Unfortunately we do not know which one.” Xetvis said, turning to a map on the board. “There were eight with openings within the legal driving limit.”

“Is there any legal way to get them out of there?”

Xetvis shook his head. “None. The infected are condemned to the workhouse until their death, no recourse, no appeal. To the government they are no longer even considered to be people, they are animals with no rights at all.”

Morgan groaned as he looked over the map. “So we’ve got to figure out which one they were sent to and bust them out, and elude recapture before we can get back to the landing site.”

Maddox nodded. “Yeah, pretty much.”

“Oh, this trip is just getting better.”

“Yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Casting notes:
> 
> Ryan Reynolds as Major Xetvis Cessa, not that he's come up much so far.
> 
> http://trubutetobeards.weebly.com/uploads/1/9/5/2/19524971/3516557_orig.jpg


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

**Day 08**

Lixiviation is, at heart, a very simple process.

Caliche (ka-lee'-chee, or sometimes klee'-chee) is a sedimentary rock, a hardened natural cement of calcium carbonate binding other materials such as gravel, sand, clay, and silt. In dry, arid regions it can be found in minable quantities. If a country is very lucky its caliche deposits will consist of gypsum, sodium chloride and other salts and sand, associated to salitre. Salitre, in turn, is a composite of sodium nitrate (NaNO3) and potassium nitrate (KNO3), as well as iodate minerals, sodium chloride, sodium sulfate, and sodium borate (borax).   Once lixiviated the end solution can be refined to produce a variety of products, including sodium nitrate (for agriculture or industry uses), potassium nitrate, sodium sulfate, iodine, and iodine derivatives.

Once the rock is liberated from the earth below it goes through a multi-stage crushing process, turning it into loose gravel mixed with much acrid, pale grey dust. As it moves through the plant this dust coats everything, including the people who work there. Eventually it is lifted up by carts to the top of the lixiviation hall. From there it crashes down through giant metal funnels into enormous metal pots below until the pots are approximately half full. These pots are taller than a man, as wide as a small swimming pool, and hold an enormous volume of material. Once these pots are ready water is pumped in, or perhaps previously boiled solution if it needs to be made stronger. When the pots are within a half-meter of brimful the water is shut off and the giant burners are lit. The pot will boil at 248 ° Fahrenheit/120 ° Celsius for ten hours under the hot sun of the dry desert, buffered only by a thin shade cloth to keep it all from evaporating too fast. When the process is complete the liquids will be pumped off to the crystallization plant and the remaining slag will be removed via the clean out doors in the bottom, dumped into metal carts and hauled away as waste.

This is a process that can be easily automated. But why waste the money when there is a ready labor force nearly tailor made to the work?

It matters not that these are sick people. It matters not that newly sensitive noses will sear and burn from the acrid fumes, or that newly sensitive ears will ring from the constant din of rock pouring in to metal containers or that newly weakened eyes might go dim and tired in a place where everyone and everything is covered with the same grey dust. It matters not that newly heightened metabolisms might cause agonizing hunger pangs over the course of a twelve hour shift, or that even resilient bodies might know the stabs of heat cramps in those conditions or that newly sickened people might prefer to have their loved ones about them as they accept the fact of a lifelong disease rather than being sent away to be worked to their death. It matters not that the utter and complete lack of any safety gear means the chance of death is high.

No, all that matters is that newly changed bodies can endure more heat without sickening, can take more punishment without breaking, can heal from exposure to toxins overnight and so be ready to go again in the morning. It matters only that those newly changed bodies can somehow take the cheapest, least efficient form of protein and convert it to more muscle even under the worst of conditions, becoming harder and stronger by the day. It matters only that these people know that they are useless in every other way, utterly outcast, and that they should be grateful to be able to give society some return for having even bad food available and not quite clean water and cast off rags to wear and a roof over their heads.

Spencer Reid stood at his place beside one of the fuming cauldrons and scraped the bottom with the long wooden paddle in his hands, stirring up the rock so that it would release more of its elements into the solution. Sweat poured freely from his body as he stood over the boiling kettle, and was evaporated by the barely shaded sun overhead even as it seeped into the blisters forming under his work gloves. Even a boy who had grown up in the Nevada desert could be utterly miserable under these conditions. And he was on day one of eighty-two of them.

He might consider crying like Aviv, but he didn’t want to waste the water.

As he worked he was making plans in his head. The first set was for JJ. Even though she was on water duty with Elena just having her in here was an affront somehow. She’d become his, not in the sense that Elena was, but still somehow. It was a knowledge, a bone deep feeling that he had yet to find words for, but it was real and he had to accept it and eventually they would have to discuss it. And the thought of one of his in this hell offended and upset him dearly. So he made plans. When he got back he was going to bend Hotch’s ear until she got more leave time, and to hell with her just getting back from her honeymoon. He was going to insist that Will take her and Henry off to the country somewhere, some place with cool green grass to lie on and fresh air and maybe a nearby lake. Some place where she could rest and recover and feed her belly and enjoy her family until this place was nothing more than a memory.

For Elena he had more specific plans.

He remembered reading in one of Garcia’s magazines about a country B&B that was all tent cabins, done in what Garcia called the Shabby Chic style. It was all very romantic, big claw foot tubs and four-poster beds fluffy with counterpanes and feather beds and lots of pillows and candles around. He was going to take her there, or someplace like, lots of clean air and sweet prairie grasses and flowers and all the comfort and romance she could desire. He was going to soak with her in a tub of herbal bubbles until every gram of nitrates was cleared from their skins, feed her a farm fresh feast, take her to a big bed under the night sky and with her willing participation claim her at last. He would make love to her all night under the stars, feed her a country breakfast come morning, then read to her in a hammock until it was time to start the cycle over again. He would keep her there until the snow drove them home, and then would repeat in a cozy Georgetown apartment with a roaring fire until this place was nothing but a distant nightmare. At the end of it he’d no longer have a poker fund, but he no longer gave a damn.

He was going to get her out of here. He rather thought he would see if he could get Aviv out of here as well; tie him tightly to JJ when the time came. He wanted to bring Ladz along, but Brian would probably want to free his lover if he could. Maybe he could risk taking both Elena and Ladz, he and the other man would have to run the calculations and see. Maybe. Somehow.

Just then JJ came by with water. The lightest among them were circulating constantly, carrying heavy earthen jugs filled with lukewarm well water that tasted of the nitrates in the tanks to try to keep everyone at least somewhat hydrated. It was the only water they had here, and Elena swore it didn’t seem to do any harm, so he drank as often as he could.   As he tipped the jug back JJ looked him in the eyes. “I want to go back to Kandahar.” She said.

Yes, a war zone in the desert might actually preferable to this. “Do they have any openings?”

She laughed without humor and moved away.

Spencer went back to pushing rocks in a water tank with a big stick. It was going to be a long eighty-two days.


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

**Day 08**

They went over the likelihood of this workhouse versus that one, which had more reliable intel, which they were more likely to survive, until Morgan’s head was spinning. Most of what he was getting out of it was that JJ and Reid were stuck, were in harm’s way, and while they would be getting out they were going to need a lot of getting put back together when they got home.

Eventually he and Maddox stepped out of the shed into the cooling evening air. It looked like the kitchen was mostly communal here. Maddox’s men had already been through the chow line, now they got bowls of the local eats and joined them. “We got some good timing, Cap.” One of the men said.

“Oh?”   Maddox asked.

“They got a Rite of Claiming going in two days. They’re already working on the dinner for it.”

“Yeah, well, if we can get our people out that fast you’ll have to catch the next one.”

“Rite of Claiming?” Morgan asked.

Maddox nodded. “Kind of like a wedding, but also more than a wedding.   Only happens between two infected, it’s considered their third most sacred rite. They take their cues from the nobility for one; always throw a big party to celebrate.”

“What’s more sacred than that?”

“Supposedly the second is the adoption of a da'a't da'nyis, a moon mother into a family. Something like a god mother or an adoptive parent. The most sacred is a funeral, but they haven’t told us anything about that one.”

“Uh huh.” Morgan had to remember, he was focused on Reid and JJ. At the moment so were Maddox and his men. But the other people around here had lives to go on living. It felt frustrating but he would be more successful if he worked with them, not against them. “Only among the infected?”

“Yeah. According to the people here there’s a biological bond that forms.” Maddox shrugged. “I don’t know; I’ve never felt it. Neither have any of these lowlifes.” He said, affectionately referring to his team. “And I am so very grateful. War bride from another planet, can you imagine the paperwork.” Morgan winced at the mere thought. “Speaking of paperwork, now that we can unload the ERV we can unpack the transmitter. You’re welcome if you want to send a report back on what you’ve learned.”

“Any way of keeping it away from Donaldson?” He had to assume anything Donaldson saw Strauss would as well. The question was, could he get a report straight to Hotch?

Maddox checked his watch and nodded. “Sergeant Rickter goes on the desk in about two hours, we have a code set up for things he needs to route to McGuire’s private e-mail, she’s the most trustworthy there. If you have a secure routing path he could send something along.”

Morgan grinned at that. “That I have.   You really don’t get along with Donaldson, do you?”

Maddox chuckled, “About as far as I used to be able to throw him.”

* * *

 

“Any word from Agent Morgan?” Hotch asked.

He’d been in the ops room of the launch facility since Morgan left, napping in a very uncomfortable chair in the back. Now they were finally getting some kind, any kind of word. He asked Beauregard, but Donaldson, who had pressed on to read the report first shook his head and answered. “No. Just a nominal update from Maddox. They reached the rebel encampment safely and are contacting their intelligence web to try to locate your people.”

“Good.” It wasn’t a bad report, but Hotch had hoped for more.

A few minutes later his phone rang. He couldn’t put his finger on it yet but all of his instincts said not to trust here. For that reason he had switched to one of Garcia’s super special scrambled phones just in case. Now he was glad he did. “Sir,” Garcia said. “Is there a Sergeant Rickter there?”

Hotch looked over at the command board and found a short, middle aged blond man with the right name tag looking straight at him. “Yes.”

“He just forwarded me a report from Morgan that I don’t think I was supposed to read.”

“Set up in the downstairs conference room, you, Blake and Rossi. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He hung up and turned to Donaldson and Beauregard. “We have what looks like an Amber Alert. If everything looks stable here...”

“We’ll alert you if the situation changes Agent Hotchner.” Beauregard said.

“Thank you.”

* * *

 

“Aliens?” Blake said

The only conference room downstairs from the BAU was the SCIF, a secure location where no one would overhear. Technically they weren’t supposed to bring tablets in there but since Hotch was already committing treason he was willing to overlook procedural rules. “I know it sounds crazy but I watched this thing go off right in front of me.” He said now.

Rossi rejoined them, having gone out to check something. “Well, we can confirm part of Maddox’s theory. I just spoke to the coffee guy, that last thermos with the black top has been filled with French roast Colombian decaf, and has been since they took on the contract, per Erin Strauss’ order. She decaffeinated Reid.” He chuckled as he settled into his seat. “As petty as it sounds I can just see it working.”

“I sent a secure note out to Emily while you were en route.” Garcia said. “And got word back just before we got in here. She said that her old chain of command did send a formal warning out to the FBI. But she only found out because her old friends from that task force called her to warn her. If they hadn’t she doesn’t think she would have had any warning.”

“And she sent JJ to Afghanistan.” Blake shook her head over the file. “You can tell that she doesn’t have any training for that job, no wonder she’s been acting like a PTSD case.”

Hotch took a deep breath and looked at Rossi. “Dave, I have to ask...”

Rossi just smiled. “No. I did not go there. I can smell bait when it lands in my bucket. I thought it was personal between her and I, I always thought she was the jealous type. NPD is an interesting angle to look at though. For the record Seaver had no clue, girl was innocent as a lamb.” He looked over at Blake. “Has she tried anything with you yet?”

“Nope,” Blake looked up from the file. “Erin and I go back. She knows better. There’s no way she could have planned this, we’re not saying she’s collaborating with the Unsub?”

“No, but she might be with whomever is pulling Unit L13’s strings.” Rossi said. “There was no way they could anticipate the Unsub grabbing a couple of FBI agents, but once it happened they could predict the outcome. But they would have to know that there’s no way JJ would go back over to DOD, and I bet they know Reid well enough to know that he wouldn’t either.”

“So they go to Erin knowing she’s approachable from what happened with JJ.” Blake picked up. “They flatter her, offer her power and advancement, all if she will just guarantee that her people will make the move to whatever project they’re working on once they return infected. She says yes and all of a sudden protect the project becomes interagency cooperation.”

“The question is, what is this project?” Hotch said.

But Blake shook her head. “I don’t know that finding out is the priority. I can’t say I know JJ well but I think Maddox’s profile of Spencer is spot on, that man is stronger than he looks. Strauss isn’t going to find a button she can use to get him to move away from the BAU.”

“Even threatening his mother?” Garcia asked.

Blake shook her head again. “Reid is a master of a chess player; he’ll be three moves ahead before she even opens her mouth. And if Maddox is right the same thing will happen if she tries to go after JJ.”

“So you’re thinking that project doesn’t matter, they’re never going to get that close to it.” Rossi said.

“If they do it will be strictly voluntary, and with full disclosure.” Blake said. “No, the bigger problem here is Erin, we need to get her off our collective backs before they get home or else I suspect it’s going to get messy.”

“Messy?” Rossi asked.

“Have you ever played chess against Spencer?”

“We need to be prepared.” Hotch agreed. “Right now there’s nothing else we can do for them, it’s in Morgan’s hands.”

“You know, while it’s not the priority this Donaldson person is trying hard for this.” Blake said. “I think I want to know why.

“I can see what I can find.” Garcia said. “Um, are we going to tell Will about the baby?”

“Only if we have to.” Hotch replied. “That should stay between them. In the meantime I’m going to go talk to McGuire tomorrow. She seems to be the only one we can trust in this.”

“Can we?” Rossi asked.

“I intend to find out.”

 


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30**

**Day 08**

At the end of the long hot work day they all started the slow zombie shuffle back to the dorm. Many just headed straight back to collapse but all of Bastian’s people detoured into the bathroom. Showers were not available but they all stopped at the sinks to wash the toxic dust off their skin as best they could. Then, when they returned to their beds, they all discretely changed into whatever other set of clothing they had, leaving their grimy, sweat soaked work clothes to hang until the next morning. At the end of the process Spencer couldn’t say he felt one hundred percent but he felt at least somewhat refreshed for the few hours of quiet time they had before lights out. He slid down to sit on the floor with his back to his bunk as JJ sat on the edge of it, and contemplated the blisters on his hands, on top of everything else.

“Here” Elena sat down beside him. She had a clean rag and one of the bottles of raw spirits they had abandoned the other night. Now she soaked the cloth and started daubing at the blisters. “It’s all we have. But if you start drying them out they’ll heal by tomorrow and you won’t get them again.”

“Thank you.” It was a sweet and caring gesture. How amazing that she would think of him, of anyone else, in this hell. Dear god he wanted to wrap her up and get her out of this. He wanted nothing more than to take her someplace safe and care for her until he could hear her laugh again. “I can’t wait to get you home.”

Elena sighed a little and focused on her work. “I don’t even remember home.”

“Trauma reaction. We can work on that.”

“What time of year will it be?”

He did a quick calculation in his head. “October 28th.”

She gave him a real smile, “Just in time for Halloween.”

That was something to look forward to. “Yeah, hopefully we’ll be out of quarantine.”

“If not our room will be horror movie central. Haunted hospital room, right?”

“Absolutely.” Good, if they could still plan a future she wasn’t too injured to heal.

Meanwhile further down the row Adriana confronted Bastian as he started making the rounds of his people. “Rikter ael a'oin." She said to him. "Wyen aeph Odot negil yael vreri?" She seemed nervous.

“Odot zaerr ta'n negi yael vreri. Hi nsetlphissiv a'oin a'ph yisi. Hi'l ta'n ra'daetk merg." Bastian appeared to be trying to calm her.

“Wyen aeph yi va'il?" Now the fear in her voice was clear.

“What are they saying?” Spencer asked quietly.

“Adriana has been here the longest. Before Bastian came here and took control from the old za’rph work chief one of the officers, Odot, took her for his slave. He even put a claiming mark on her. That’s why Bastian hasn’t ruined her looks like he did for everyone else; no one would overstep Odot’s claim mark.”

“Claim mark?” He had dreamed of claiming, on some level he knew what that was but he couldn’t articulate it.

“You know what claiming is.” Elena gave him an up from under look and a knowing smile that did not help matters. “Apparently there’s a whole ritual built around it, like a wedding but something more involved somehow. At some point the stronger powered deni places a mark on the lower powered, right where the neck meets the shoulder. But it’s part of a commitment ceremony, only for infected, that he put a tattoo on her there is considered highly offensive to the community, a desecration. From what she’s said he’s a very creative sadist, he did it deliberately to hurt her.”

“Where did he go?” JJ asked. She’s been shifting nervously, now she got up to pace a little, small circles right at the end of the bunks.

“Promoted out. Apparently this is not a plum assignment for the guards. Anyway, that was after Bastian got here but before he took over. Every time an officer leaves she’s terrified that Odot will return.”

“Poor kid,” JJ said. Adriana couldn’t be past 20 after all.

While Elena had been explaining this to them in English Ladz had been explaining to Aviv in Voirret. Now the younger man shoved himself back into the bunk, a dark look in his eyes. Elena turned her attention there and had a brief conversation with him and Ladz in the other language. Ladz looked sad and concerned while Aviv looked deeply angered by this turn of events. Eventually Bastian entered the conversation and seemed to settle it, although no one was truly pleased with the answer. At the end of it Elena turned back. “What is it?” Spencer asked.

“Aviv comes from a noble family. Proper rites are important for them. He’s very offended on Adriana’s behalf and more than a little afraid that someone might mark him. According to custom you can only be marked for a claim once. But Bastian said that consent matters. She didn’t and Odot is not her deni and we all know it, so when Kaeg claims her that will count, nothing else.”

“Sounds like the kind of thing I would say to a victim.” JJ nodded approvingly.

“Absolutely,” Spencer agreed.

Bastian looked over, curious. “Wyen vaev nyih leh?"

"Tyih eksii." Elena replied gently.

“Hmm.” Bastian looked Spencer up and down and nodded approvingly before going back to making his rounds.

“What was that all about?” Spencer asked.

“I think he’s sizing up your management potential.” Elena said.

Spencer was about to say something about that, something like they wouldn’t be here long enough to make it worthwhile when JJ groaned. “What is it?” He asked.

“I don’t know. It just feels like something’s coming, something, something’s going to happen.” JJ was holding herself and now she started nibbling on her thumb nail.

“Stop that.” Spencer said gently, automatically. He knew she’d been trying to break that habit. He fully expected her to roll her eyes at him and continue but instead she stopped immediately. He turned to Elena. “Could this be part of the disease process?”

“I don’t know.” She turned to Ladz, who had been paying light attention while he tried to comfort Aviv, but he only shook his head. So she turned to Bastian. “Bastian, a'ois kaesr yisi lehl lyi'l phiiraetk la'dinyaetk ra'daetk. Ca'oirv aen mi vesn a'ph nyi laergtill?"

Bastian looked JJ over, and was about to say something when the big double doors at the end of the hall slammed open; the big double doors that let prisoners in but never out. He held up a finger to hold on a moment and went to see what was going on.

Even as he was moving the hall was going quiet. No, the hall was transcending quiet. Whoever came in had everyone’s attention. Something is coming, something is going to happen. Spencer turned to look at JJ and saw radiant joy and bone deep sadness in her face. “Oh no,” she said very softly.  

As Elena moved to her Spencer looked over at Ladz. He nodded in the direction of where everyone was staring. Spencer nodded his agreement and they started pushing their way to the front.

What they saw stopped them cold.

 


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31**

**Day 08**

Spencer’s first impression was that she had been loved once. The skin he could see had the kind of glow that good nutrition and lots of fresh air and careful attention to hygiene brought, her clothing had been carefully chosen for both the weather and the events around her, and even now her eyes were lit with the curious glow of both a good education and a good upbringing. She was not afraid at all, even now.

His second impression was that she had not been treated well recently. Her hair was tangled, her skin smudged with dirt and her clothing scraped and torn, as if she had been running and hiding and keeping away. Or as if she had been caught and dragged and thrown about, a theory further proved by what looked like a growing shiner on her left cheek.

Finally though, over all of that, screeching into his consciousness was the undeniable fact that he had been trying to deny for several heartbeats now; the fact that she could not be a day over eight years old. Not one.

They brought a _child_ here.

And this child was standing in the middle of the central alleyway, being stared at by all of these dirty, half naked strangers, all of whom were shocked by the fact that they brought a child here. They stared at her in shock and anger and she stared back with curiosity.

Spencer watched as the leaders from each group started easing forward. For all their strength and confidence this time they were uncertain. And he could guess why, if they caught her scent and it identified her as carrying their strain her fate would be in their hands. How long she lived in this hell, if she went slowly or mercifully quick, if the guards selected her, all of that would be in their hands. No one in their right mind wanted that responsibility.

The one mitigating factor was that she was clinging to the hand of an adult. He had the air of a soldier about him, despite what looked to be civilian clothes designed for the weather. His dark hair was buzzed closed to his head and he looked like he’d been worked over as well. He also looked like he was about to say something but then the girl pulled away, focusing even his attention.

As they all watched she put her hands over her face and started turning in a slow circle. Everyone in the room let out a soft “ahhhh” and seemed to lean forward, as if everything hung on the next moment.

The girl turned in a circle three times and then stopped. “Mama!” She called out to the room.

The room held its breath.

And Spencer felt JJ slam into him from behind. “Let me through!” She said as she tried to push between him and Ladz. “I need to get to her let me through!”

Uhhhh....Spencer turned to her.   Surely she could not be serious. “JJ?”

But she was serious. Her eyes were wild and desperate and she flat out growled at him. He didn’t need words to understand the threat in that inhuman sound, it literally made the hair stand up on the back of his neck. He and Ladz immediately moved out of her way.

She stepped out into the open space.

The girl put her hands down and looked at JJ with a huge smile. “Mama!” she cried out before running to her arms. JJ caught her up and held her close, and Spencer could see the same instant hard love he saw in her eyes when Henry ran to her.

The room let out its collective breath, and gave an almost cheer of relief and what might have been celebration. A few people even applauded. The man with her looked pleased at this outcome, even happy. Every leader shot better you than me grins in Bastian’s direction. Bastian himself was standing there with his own hand over his face, groaning at his luck.

But this wasn’t just Bastian’s problem. Spencer trailed after the new duo, the little girl chattering away in Voirret as JJ nodded along with the conversation. “JJ, do you have any idea what she’s saying?”

“Not a clue but it doesn’t matter. It’s her.” She looked back with relief and love shining through the tears in her eyes. “It’s her; it’s the girl I’ve been dreaming of. I couldn’t find her so somehow she found me.”

“Ummm...”

“Will always wanted a big family. And I’m sure Henry won’t mind having an older sister. He can still be the baby that way.”

Spencer was not as up to date on child psychology as he ought to be but somehow he doubted it would be that easy. On the other hand he could just imagine the attachment he felt for Elena now multiplied by maternal instincts. “She’s going back with us then?”

JJ turned back, shocked at the thought. “You don’t think I’m going to leave her here, do you?”

“No, of course not.” How the royal hell were they going to explain this to Hotch?

As they reached the end of the row the girl in question started squirming to be let down. “Aviv!” She cried out with delight. As soon as she hit the ground she ran up to the shocked young man, knocking him back on his bunk as she threw herself into his arms. “Aviv! I pha'oitv yis! I pha'oitv dh da'a't da'nyis!" After a huge hug she pulled back and looked at him with concern. "Wyen yevvitiv na' ha'ois pheri?"

“Can you do direct translation?” Spencer asked Elena

“Not really.” She replied. “I’ll do what I can.”

"Ceda'oiphreki, na' yaevi dh ka'a'v ra'a'gl.” Aviv said with a gentle smile. “ In zaerr yier zyit I saevi ekeaet." He looked from the girl to JJ as the girl ran back to her side. “Ya'ois da'a't da'nyis? Asi ha'oi loisi?"

"Yil. I'sti miit vsiedaetk a'ph yis istis laetri Netth etv I riphn ya'di." The girl said with an enthusiastic nod.

“She asked what happened to his face, he said it was to hide his good looks and that it would heal when he.... rides, I don’t know what that means. He asked if she was certain JJ was her moon mother, I’m not sure what that means either. And she said yes, she’s been dreaming of her ever since she and someone left home.” Elena translated.

Aviv stood very slowly. He looked at JJ with astonishment and growing pain in his eyes, but his manner was very proper. He gave her a formal sort of bow, one arm placed precisely across his waist in front, the other in back. When he stood back up his eyes were starting to shine and when he spoke it was very formal. “Al yiev a'ph nyi ya'oili I zirra'di ha'oi na' a'ois phedaerh. Wi lyesi aet ha'ois la'ssa'z pha's ha'ois ra'll etv ha'ois qa'h aet phaetvaetk ha'ois zeh. Oois ya'oili ael ha'ois ya'oili ta'z, etv a'ois verg ael ha'ois verg. Meh a'ois vergl ksa'z lnsa'tkis nysa'oiky nyael ma'tv a'ph ra'sti minziit oil."

“As head of the house I welcome you to our family. We share in your sorrow for your loss and your joy in finding your way. Our house is your house now, and our clan is your clan. May our clans grow stronger through this bond of love between us." Elena translated.

“What does that mean?” JJ asked.

Elena translated. “In dietl ha'oi'si nyiaes da'nyis ta'z." Bastian said from over where he had been talking to the man who came with the girl. “Ba'ny a'ph nyid.”

“He said it means you’re their mother now.” Elena translated back, “Both of them.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right, all right. At least I didn't leave you hanging long.
> 
> Casting notes:
> 
> As the girl Mackenzie Brooke Smith
> 
> http://i500.listal.com/image/3120185/500full.jpg
> 
> As her companion Jared Padalecki
> 
> http://data3.whicdn.com/images/58926745/large.png


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32**

**Day 08**

“What?” JJ looked shocked, even as she put an arm around the girl to hold her close. “I’m their mother now?”

The man who had come with the girl joined them now. Bastain started explaining something to him. The expressions crossing the man’s face clearly stated that he thought that Bastian was bullshitting him. At that point Bastian introduced Ladz into the conversation, and the man first looked unsurprised somehow, and then started to accept what was being said.   “He’s explaining that we’re part of a clan from another planet.” Elena said. “Jotir there didn’t buy it at first but then Bastian pointed out that Ladz was doing research at the uni and...”

“And some people think MadScientist should be all one word.” Spencer finished.

“Yeah.” Elena kept listening, now she stepped in closer as Jotir looked at Spencer and gave him the same ultra polite bow Aviv had given JJ. “Just give a deep nod in reply.” Elena said, which Spencer did, earning a small smile from Jotir. “He’s saying that you’re the head of the Earth clan, working with him while we’re all in here. If Jotir ever tips his head like so...” She demonstrated, tipping her head down and to the side. “...it’s a gesture of respect.   The polite response is to put your hand on his neck briefly; it’s a gesture of acceptance.”

“Got it.” Spencer smiled at her. “Ever tell you how glad I am that you’re an anthropologist?”

She returned the smile. “Yes, but keep telling me.” She went back to listening. “Bastian and Jotir are explaining how they know each other to Ladz, and what happened. Apparently Jotir is....” She frowned and spoke up with a question in Voirret. As a result the three men opened the conversation to the others. “Aviv’s father was a Clan Chief, a nobleman, something like a British Lord from the sound of it. Jotir here was their house steward, something like a butler.”

“His body language does not say butler.” Spencer said quietly.

“I think it incorporates Chief of Security. He also served in the military with Bastian before he became a butler, it sounds like maybe a Special Forces unit. That’s where they met, Jotir served under Bastian. He inherited his infection like Aviv did. He deserted when they started testing soldiers for the infection and went back to their clan lands. A month ago someone overrode the bribes Aviv’s father was paying to keep from being raided. When they were Jotir was told to take Lillit and her nanny and run. They caught them with them while they were hiding; the nanny had gone to the market.”

“Ouch.” Spencer said. “But what does he mean that JJ is their mother now?”

There was more of a conversation before Elena went back to translating. “He keeps saying something like ‘that which is within me is drawn to that which is within you’.” Elena finally said. “It appears to be most common between lovers, but can also happen between a woman who has recently lost a child and a child who recently lost both parents.”

"Syi va'ilt'n gta'z nyen'l zyen aen dietl." Aviv said. He had been sitting talking to Lillit, now he rose to join the conversation. Jotir gave him the same sort of bow, which the younger man accepted with a nod, and then the two men hugged tightly as old friends.

“She doesn’t know that’s what it means.” Elena translated. “She’s probably too young.”

“Her name is Lillit then?” JJ asked. “How old is she? And how does he know her?”

Elena asked Aviv and then translated the reply. “Yes. She’s seven. Aviv here is her older brother. Apparently she caught her parents by surprise; they thought they were too old.”

“Lucky accident,” JJ said with a smile. “So, I’m their mother now?”

“When this happens the two families are joined together. The way they’re describing it, it sounds like a cross between godparents and open adoption. Technically it only applies to Lillit, but...”

“But I am not letting her brother hang out to dry.” JJ said firmly, “Especially now.” She reached up and squeezed the hand of the no quietly weeping young man, earning a sad smile as Lillit nestled against her side. “Both parents?”

“They could have fought back against being arrested.” Spencer said, “Or assassinated if they were powerful enough.”

Elena had been quietly translating for Bastian’s benefit. Now he nodded. “I ed phedaeraees zaeny nyi phedaerh." He said. "Tyih zisi."

“He said he’s familiar with the family, and they were.” Elena said.

“But they sent the children here so they wouldn’t bear the guilt of killing them directly.” Spencer said. “We have to try to get them out as well.” He looked over at Ladz. “What’s the capability of those sampling devices you used?   Weight, dimensions....”

Ladz shook his head. “I would have to calculate. Why?” In reply Spencer lifted his shirt and pointed out the long lump of the tube under his skin. Ladz hissed as the possibility dawned upon him. “Tricky. It will be close but if we can balance it we might be able to go. They are either manually set off or on a timer...”

“Eighty one days from today.” Spencer said.

Ladz nodded. “Then that is how long we are here.”

“You’re willing to go along?”

“If my option is to spend my life here?” Ladz chuckled at him. “Besides, according to Elena I could explore another world, even as a carrier, and continue my work. No, I will go if we can balance the mass.”

Elena had been translating all the while, now Bastian nodded and spoke up. “He said it would get a lot of vulnerable people out of the way.” She said. “He supports the attempt and will try to get us what we need.”

Lillit tugged on JJ’s arm. “I yesti na' ka' na' nyi menysa'a'd."

“Bathroom,” Elena translated.

JJ sighed. “Spence, would you....”

“Sure.” He held out a hand to Lillit, but she just looked at him, curious but unwilling to leave JJ’s side with a stranger.

“Elena could you explain that I have a husband and son at home, and that Spence here is my son’s godfather? I suppose what I am to her is what he is or could be to Henry.” JJ asked. “We just assign the job to someone when a child is born.”

Elena nodded and translated. Instantly the group broke out in smiles, understanding their relationship at last. Lillit jumped up and took Spencer’s hand, but stopped when she got to Bastian. "Asi ha'oi nyi verg rievis a'ph nyael verg?" Bastian looked down at her from where he was leaning against the bunks and nodded. At that she dropped a formal sort of curtsey. “Mh tedi ael Lillit Caesna, deh I lneh?"

“She asked if he was the Clan Chief here. Now she’s asking if she may stay.” Elena translated.

Bastian replied with a bow as formal as the one Aviv had given JJ earlier. "Iph ha'oi vsa'daeli na' a'mih err a'ph nyi ra'ddetvl kaestit na' ha'oi mh di a's ha'ois da'a't da'nyis a's yis la't'l da'a't phenyis a's yael deni a's ha'ois msa'nyis a's yael deni, nyit hil, ha'oi deh lneh."

“He said that if she promises to obey those of us here then she may stay.”

Lillit looked up at him with a big grin. "I vsa'daeli. Tyetg ha'oi." She said with another curtsey. Then she took Spencer’s hand again, ready to go.

“She agreed.” Elena was grinning at this little performance. But then they all were.

They were becoming a family, Spencer thought, as he led Lillit off. Somehow in the corner of this hell. Now he just had to see them all home, somehow.


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter 34**

**Day 08**

Now that they were at the village Maddox’s crew set up camp. Or rather set up the tent. They had one main one and had apparently packed along a smaller, but were holding off on setting it up. “Want your own place?” Maddox asked. “Or want to crash with us?”

“Crash with you?” Morgan looked over the large tent, confused. “What, are you all going to pile in there?”

“Yeaaaahhhhh, it’s an infected thing.”

Morgan looked at the two young women and young man who had come over from one of the family encampments and who were now helping with the set up. He noticed that they had bed rolls with them. “Are they an infected thing too?”

Maddox grinned. “It’s not like that; get your head out of the gutter.”

Maybe so, but Morgan couldn’t wrap his head around what else it could be. “Think I’ll take my own place, thanks.”

“Suit yourself.” With that they helped him set up the smaller tent quite close to the larger. It was ample room for him, and with the sleeping gear he’d packed on the ERV he was quite comfortable. He settled in with a book, but kept an eye on the other tent just out of curiosity. Sure enough, other than the two Maddox left on guard duty the lot of them, all ten remaining plus the three locals, plied into the tent in what looked like a giant pile of bodies. But unless they were all utterly silent about it all they did was sleep. There didn’t seem to be any hanky panky going on.

Weird. And what the hell did this mean for Reid and JJ?

Morgan considered this as he drifted off.

* * *

 

Adding Lillit to the mix changed up the sleeping arrangements.

She wanted to share a bed with her brother and JJ, which might be physically feasible, but JJ thought it more than a little weird to be sleeping with her 13 year old...Godson? Adopted son? Either way, not something she was willing to do. “Spencer ael e lnsa'tkis kapo nyet Ladz . Ya'oi nza' lriiv ema'sti yael miv. Ya'oi esi yael silva'tlaemaeraenh ta'z" Bastian said. He looked over at Elena. "Ya'oi nsetlreni nyen lnseaekyn."

Elena nodded and looked at the group.   “He told me to translate this directly. He said that Spencer is the head of our clan. You two sleep above his bed. You are his responsibility."

The leader of their clan. Spencer had never been part of the command structure at the BAU, which had never been an issue before, but every so often he had felt the need to stand up to the system. Now that need to stand up was becoming vastly more pronounced, and he found himself thinking that he might approach Hotch when they got back about some mentoring in team leadership. “People keep saying my clan. How are we defining my clan anyway?” He looked at Bastian as he said this, but he kept his body language loose and open. He wasn’t challenging here but he was not backing down either and he wanted the other man to know it.

Bastian seemed to notice this and replied in kind. He listened to the translation, shrugged, and replied. “Who are you claiming?” Elena translated.

“You.” That was easy. “JJ. Lillit now, as I understand their relationship makes that appropriate. Aviv, as her brother?” Bastian nodded agreement to that. “Jotir, as part of their house, their family? Ladz as a fellow academic? No more than that.” He’d already have his hands full with that number, especially when you added in Brian and whoever it was that Brian had become attached to. He didn’t know how he was going to negotiate that.

Bastian considered this longer before replying. When he did it was with a small smile that did not reach his eyes. “He said we will have to ask Jotir and Ladz to agree, as they are adults and bintu, not kittah. He wants to know if you plan on challenging him for the whole group.”

Oh hells no. “No.” Spencer replied. “Absolutely not. The group I named is more than enough to handle.” It was probably good to state this clearly. And Bastian was both a good leader and had the kind of experience he could learn from. “If I’m reading this right you could say I’ve worked under stronger kapos before, as police of some kind, FBI. I have no problem doing so now.”

“Stronger kapos?” JJ asked

“If I’m right and it means someone with command ability? Hotch, Rossi, Morgan, Emily...”

“Good point.”

Bastian seemed quite pleased with the somewhat long winded explanation Elena gave. Eventually he replied, offering Spencer his hand. “He said he agrees, and if those people you named agreed then they will be under your command.” Elena translated. “Which sounds so entirely wrong...”

“But this is their culture, not ours.” Although how they were going to meld the two cultures when they got back to Earth was anyone’s guess. For now he accepted what turned out to be a handshake that went all the way up the arm. “Bintu, not kittah?” He asked after it was done.

“Average, I think.” Elena said. “More like not kapo, not kittah. It’s an unclear concept.”

“Oh.”

Meanwhile Bastian had called both men over and explained the situation. “I would prefer much a clan led by a fellow erevidaer...errr...academic than a soldier, yes?” Ladz said, removing an unlit pipe of curious design from his mouth. “And to see a new planet? Yes, yes!” He offered Spencer his hand, which was accepted with a smile.

"Ya'oi a'phphis ha'ois verg rievis ha'ois tirg!" Jotir snapped.

“Oh bothersome ritual.” Ladz rolled his eyes but gave Spencer that odd head dip Elena had demonstrated earlier. Spencer replied by placing his hand briefly on the other mans neck, a little uncomfortable by something that seemed too intimate, but at that contact he could feel whatever the prions had changed within him ripple and settle somehow. Ladz looked up, blinking. “That was interesting.” He said, popping the pipe back in. “Very interesting. I must find a....Elena, ta'nima'a'g?”

“Notebook” She said.

“Yes yes, a notebook somewhere.”

Spoken like a true academic. Spencer grinned at him. “I wish I had mine.” He said, while Elena translated for Bastian and Jotir, who shrugged over the importance of an Observation notebook.

It took more explanation and a lifting of Spencer’s shirt to show the embedded transmitting device before Jotir understood what was going on. When he did he spoke very formally before he offered Spencer his neck. “He said he offers you his loyalty and his sword.” Elena translated. Even as Spencer placed his hand on the other man’s neck and felt that same curious jump Bastian was chuckling and saying something else. “He said they use some other kind of weapon these days. Guns I assume.”

“Something like that.” The guards carried something that looked a lot like guns and were probably close.

When Jotir stepped back up he looked up at Spencer without meeting his eyes and grinned. "I ya'vi ha'oi tiiv e Ha'oili Snizesv." He said. "In za'oirv diet zi'si ka'aetk la'dizyisi nyen va'ilt'n tiiv la'rvaeisl."

"I hope you need a House Steward." Elena translated. "It would mean we're going somewhere that doesn't need House Guards."

Spencer grinned back. “We don’t need house guards.” He said. “Not that way. Might need a steward though, I have no idea yet. It’s a very different culture.”

Aviv stepped forward then, his eyes still swollen from crying, his manner still formal. "Mh ra'hernh doiln sideaet zaeny dh phenyis oitnaer zi yesti vsa'a'ph a'ph yael vieny." He said. "Sya'oirv nyen yevvit I zaerr kaesti ha'oi dh ra'hernh. Fa's ta'z I errivn ha'oi el rievis." With that he offered his hand.

"My loyalty must remain with my father until we have proof of his death." Elena translated. "Should that happen I will give you my loyalty. For now I accept you as leader."

Spencer accepted the handshake that went up the arm, much as he and Bastian had shared. “I understand and accept.” Even that caused that same jumping feeling.

Bastian was smiling and nodding through all of this. He said something and gestured to Elena and JJ. “He wants to know about us.” Elena said.

“You we know.” Spencer said with a smile. He would never know why he did something so personal just then, and in front of everyone, but he dipped his head and placed a kiss on her neck, right where it met her shoulder. She gave this little yipping sound and turned bright red as everyone chuckled but did not push him away. All that was left was JJ then. “It is their culture.” He said.

“Oh all right.” She held still and almost winced as he put his hand on her neck. Then her eyes widened. “Spence, what did you just do?”

“I have no idea.” He admitted.

She looked at him narrowly. “This is going to be really complicated when we get home, isn’t it.”

“Probably.” He turned back to the group. “Translate please?’ He asked Elena before turning to Bastian. “If I understand the layout correctly those who are binu sleep further out in the group, yes?” Bastian nodded. “I’d like to keep Jotir in close. It sounds like he has military training and the younger ones know him, he can help protect them.”

Elena translated, causing Bastian to nod and turn to Jotir. “I added that he can take my bed, if that works for them, since I’ll be sleeping in yours.”

”Oh really?” Spencer was teasing, he wasn’t going to let her sleep anywhere else. Going to let, yes, this was going to be complicated when they got home.

“Yes.” She said, stepping into his arms.

The two men were in agreement so JJ climbed into the upper bunk and then Lillit climbed up after her, nimble as a monkey, Jotir climbed into the bunk above Bastian, and Aviv and Ladz took the bunk directly below Spencer.   My people, Spencer though, how weird is that?

This left Spencer and Elena more room. She curled up between him and the wall as the lights out gong started to sound. “Very comfortable,” she murmured.

“I wish I could make it more.” Spencer said as darkness fell around them. He put his arm around her and pulled her in closer. He felt stronger still with her in his arms, like he could do anything. And yet horribly vulnerable, if anything happened under his watch... but as she nestled up against him he felt himself twitch, there was that as well.

“Oh?”

“Pick a hotel in DC.”

“Ummm, someplace historic. Maybe a B&B.”

“No, a full service hotel. Maybe something like the Hay-Adams.”

“Mmmmm, all right.”

“A big, comfortable bed. A big bath tub. Room service.”

She laughed gently. “Spencer. You know you don’t have to spoil me. I’ve never been like that.”

No, she’d always been the down-to-earth, practical sort. “But I want to. At least until we can move into a place with a bedroom.”

“You don’t have a bedroom?”

“Studio. But it’s a good building; it shouldn’t be hard to move to one.”

“Okay, you can spoil me for a few nights. I think the bath might be the best part.”

“I agree.” Damn. He couldn’t help but twitch again at the thought of her in the shower, and again at the memory of what it felt like to have a warm, wet, eager woman in his arms. Nope. Not. Happening. Now.

She sighed into the hollow of his throat. “It doesn’t seem quite real.” She admitted. “It’s like a dream of another world.”

“I know. That’s the trauma. That will go away in time.”

“But will this feel unreal then?”

“Maybe. Probably not. I think it’s going to be counseling all around when we get there.”

“I agree. I just wish I could wake up there.”

“So do I.” He ran his hand over her hair as she settled her head on his shoulder. That they could all wake up there, Lillit and Aviv safe, JJ back with her family, Ladz with the chance to return to his work, and the woman in his arms warm and able to heal. If he could move mountains he wanted that for all of them tomorrow. But they had to wait. “So do I.”


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter 35**

**Day 09**

The next morning Hotch caught McGuire at the medical facility, on the other side of base well away from the launch building. He showed her Morgan’s report, and the files Maddox had been given. “I wasn’t given these either.” She said, scanning them. “Goddamnit Donaldson.”

“Do you know what his game is?” Hotch asked.

“Know? No.” She reached for her phone. “I can guess but that’s not a priority right now.”

“What is?” Her manner was urgent, it put him on alert.

“He asked me for a report on everything I knew about Voirret infected culture and marriage. So far everyone we’ve had who’s been infected has been single, male and military. We’ve never had to deal with a woman with a family before. He was asking how that might affect Agent Jareau’s behavior once the infection took hold in her brain.”

“What did you tell him?”

“That on Voirret marriages between infected and non-infected partners are rare, and that every indication shows that they would be troubling and distracting since loyalty would be divided, the infected part of the brain drawing the individual to other infected, the non-infected part remaining loyal to the family.”

The problem behind that hit Hotch quick and hard. “If he wanted her full attention his best bet would be to eliminate all distractions.” He pulled out his phone too.

* * *

 

“Hey Hotch.” Will LaMontagine drawled as he headed around the corner toward the car. “Caught us just as we were on our way to presc.... what?” All of a sudden he was on alert as well, pulling Henry in close and looking around for any possible threat. “I’ll get to somewhere safe and call in, meet you down at the station.” He hung up and looked around again, but nothing felt like an imminent threat.

“Daddy, what’s wrong?” Henry asked.

“Not a lot kiddo. How do you feel about going to work with me today?”

“Yeah!?” That had Henry all kinds of happy.

Before he headed back Will eyed the car sitting quietly in the lot in front of him. It was supposed to be a locked lot, you needed a code to get in and out the gate, but if these boys were government...he knelt down and looked under the car. Yep, that box did not belong. Son of a bitch. “Come on son, let’s go across the street to the coffee place, I’ll get you some chocolate milk and maybe a muffin or something. Sound good?”

“Yeah!”

* * *

 

“I think I’m going to be sick.”

Will was sitting with Hotch and Rossi in the SCIF while Henry waited in the conference room with his Godmother, happily coloring, and the bomb squad defused his car. “I know it’s a lot to take in.” Hotch said.

“A lot to take in?” Will got up to pace around the room. “She lied to me! She implied that she was in Europe that whole time, never said anything about bring pregnant let alone losing a baby, never said anything about any risk to Henry from getting sick and now we’ve got someone trying to eliminate us as a distraction! Our whole wedding and all of this has just been a big sham!”

“She couldn’t tell you.” Hotch continued in his even tone. “It was classified. You don’t have the clearance. Technically I shouldn’t be telling you.”

“Then why are you?”

“Because my first priority is the safety of my team and their families.”

“Have we ever been at risk before and she hasn’t told me?”

Hotch opened his mouth to say no, thought of Foyette and of the Nichols case and closed it again.

“Son of a bitch!” Will threw himself into the chair again. “How the hell am I supposed to trust her now?”

“That is something you’ll have to work out moving forward.”

Will sighed deeply and considered for a long moment. “Well, I ain’t leaving her. Better or worse, sickness and in health. But we’re gonna need some time to work on this. And right now Henry has to be my priority.”

“Will you let us help?” Rossi asked.

“I wouldn’t mind it. They want us out of the way, fine, we’ll get out of the way.   I’m thinking of taking him down to visit with my Momma until this all shakes loose. My cousins will keep him out of trouble. Then I’ll go stay at a hotel for a while. I can be nimble if I don’t have to worry about him. When she gets back and gets out of quarantine we’ll sit down and talk some.”

“That’s not a bad plan.” Hotch said. “I’m sorry you had to find out this way.”

Will sighed again. “So am I. But JJ would agree with me. I like to think that even when she wasn’t telling me protecting her child was always her priority.”

Rossi nodded. “It was.”

* * *

 

“We can’t take her in there.”

Another day meant another workday. Which brought up the question of what to do with Lillit. They had already stripped her to the bare minimum and braded her hair back to keep the dust out and keep it off her neck. “We don’t have a choice JJ.” Spencer said firmly. “If we leave her here the guards will shoot her.”

“Maybe she can hide.” JJ said.

But even Bastian was shaking his head. He went and got a rag, soaked it and tied it carefully over her mouth and nose. "Bsaetk a'ph qoik a'ph zenis phsa'd yisi pha's yis, aen'l rrietis." He said. "Atv giiv yis aet nyi zirr sa'a'd. Tirr yis na' laen aet nyi ra'stis etv lneh nyisi. In'l ra'a'ris nyisi etv lyi'rr mi lephi."

"Bring of jug of water from here for her, it's cleaner." Elena translated. "And keep her in the well room. Tell her to sit in the corner and stay there. It's cooler there and she'll be safe."

“She can’t just sit in the corner all day!” JJ protested.

“It’s the only way to keep her alive.” Just then the whistle sounded. Spencer hoisted Lillit up unto his arms and headed for the mill with the others.

The easy part was the long tunnel that connected their dorm to the mill. It was crowded but no one pushed. Lillit buried her head in his shoulder as they got closer. "In ldirrl! Mh ta'li ael moistaetk!”

“I’m sorry.” He said gently to her distress, but there was nothing he could do. He quickly hurried her past the cook pots, knowing that the wet cloth over her face would only do so much to keep the dust out, and into the well room. There it was considerably cooler, quieter, and much less dusty and grimy. He put her down in the corner, past the long row of taps the water carriers used to fill their jugs. He looked over his shoulder at Elena. “Translate?” Then he looked back at Lillit. “You need to stay here today. I know it’s going to be boring and probably hot and you might even get hungry. I’m sorry, I can’t make it better. But if you stay here and out of everyone’s way we’ll see what we can do about stories later.”

Lillit nodded her understanding and hopefully agreement. But then she cocked her head and looked at him. "Asi ha'oi nyi verg rievis a's ael yi?" She asked, pointing at Bastian.

“She asked if you were the Clan chief or he was.” Elena translated. “I think.”

“Tell her I’m her new mother’s clan chief, but I’m working under Bastian while we’re here so she has to listen to both of us.” This answer pleased the girl who settled in quietly. “I hope I got that right.” He said Elena as he left the room.

“So do I.” She replied.

Heading back to his workstation after dropping Lillit off took Spencer around to a different part of the cook room. Along his way he spotted a familiar face. “Brian.” The younger man had a distant, remote look about him, as if he was in a state of shock. “How have you been holding up?”

Brian looked up at him. No, through him. “I can still taste them in the back of my throat.” He said.

Damn it. Spencer would have said something but Bastian was whistling to him to get to work.

It was going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Casting notes:
> 
> I'm changing one up, sorry about disturbing the mental image.
> 
> Jared Padalecki as Jotir
> 
> http://data3.whicdn.com/images/58926745/large.png
> 
> He's got the gentle giant thing going.


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35**

**Day 09**

At the end of the work day they were all exhausted as usual. But they had a couple of hours to settle over bowls of porridge and whatever occupation they chose before lights out. Somewhere Bastian had come up with three notebooks and three pencils. They were bound curiously and across the top, and the paper had a sort of tinny feel and the pencils were triangular with pale green wood, but they worked for putting words on paper. Ladz sniffed and said they were the kind for school children but he was grateful for his just the same. Spencer gave the second to Elena and tucked the third away. He was working on a plan.

Elena used the second notebook to settle on the floor by the bunks with Aviv and Lillit and with Jotir periodically looking over her shoulder started working on an English lesson. Jotir was cleaning his blisters, having been introduced to pot stirring earlier that day, and sorting laundry. Ladz had once again taken up his unlit pipe and with a twinkle of a smile at Spencer pulled something out from where it was hidden in his mattress, a sheet of what might have been cardboard and some kind of small, round objects. These he passed to Spencer to look at. “Elena has teached me.” He said. “Do you play?”

Spencer looked at the round objects. The edges had bright colors; these might have been made from some kind of trash. But on the tops were familiar symbols, a knight, a pawn, a bishop. “Taught me.” He said. “I do play.”

“Taught me, yes. Taught. Excellent.” Ladz grinned and started setting up the board.

At the same time Adriana and Kaeg were over with Bastian. She was still upset, and Spencer heard the name Odot once more. Bastian got her calmed down only to look concerned as Kaeg said something and gestured to Lillit. Bastian interrupted Elena and asked her something which got a fierce reply from Aviv which was repressed. Elena turned to Spencer and translated. “He wants to know if we should mark Lillit to protect her from the guards.”

“No!” JJ said

Spencer held up a finger to stop her. “Do they get a lot of children in the workhouses?” He asked.

Elena translated and replied. “No. It’s rare.”

“And do people volunteer to become guards or are they forced?”

“They volunteer.”

“Then no, we don’t need to worry.” Spencer heard JJ’s long exhale behind him.

Elena translated this, earning a similar exhale from Aviv. Jotir and Ladz simply accepted this, but Bastian leaned against the bunk with an interested look on his face and asked something long winded.   “He said it is your decision, as their clan chief, but he is curious about your reasoning.”

“A pedophile, someone who is interested in children like that, isn’t going to exile himself to an all-adult environment. They will go where the preferred prey is, a school, a church, a playground.   And unless they have that particular desire a sadist will be turned off by the thought of harming a child in that way. Now if she was past puberty we might have to consider it but not at her age. They might harm her to harm us by extension, but not sexually and not based on her looks, so there is no need to disfigure her.”

Bastian listened to all of this, nodded with an impressed look on his face, and answered briefly. “Good to know.” Elena translated.

“I should have known that.” JJ groaned.

“You’re still new to profiling.” Spencer replied.

“Still.”

“You’re under a lot of stress.”

“That shouldn’t matter Spence.” She said, tension in her voice. “I can handle myself in the field as well as anyone.”

Elena had been translating this for the benefit of the others. Now Jotir spoke up. “He said that one cannot expect a kittah to keep their head in a situation like this. That’s why the others have to guide them.”

JJ’s eyes narrowed. “Guide them? I will have you know that I am a dammed good agent. I know how to handle myself. I don’t need anyone to guide me!”

Jotir replied, a look of mild annoyance on his face. "Boin ha'oi va' tiiv la'dia'ti na' niery ha'oi ka'a'v dettisl." He said. "Ya'oi lya'oirvt'n lvieg na' nya'li ema'sti ha'oi nyen zeh."

Elena turned red at that. “Ummm....”

“What. Did. He. Say?” JJ said through her teeth.

“He said you need someone to teach you good manners. You shouldn't speak to those above you that way." Elena said.

“Above me? Above me!” JJ rounded on him. “I will have you know that we believe in equality. No one is above anyone...”

As Spencer watched, Jotir very deliberately got up and turned away from JJ’s tirade, a move meant to provoke her. "Ya'oi lii." He said. "Dettisl."

There wasn’t time for Elena to translate. JJ caught Jotir by the arm, furious at his casual, clearly offensive dismissal. “Hey!”

In response to this Jotir tried to grab her around the waist. She responded with some Morgan style move that got the brief fight going. But in the end, height, greater muscle mass and military training won out. Before Spencer could even react they ended up on the ground at the end of the row of bunks with Jotir slinging JJ over his lap. Then he landed a solid, heavy swat right upon her bottom. “What the hell!” JJ screeched.

"Ava'ra'kaepi na' ha'ois verg rievis pha's ha'ois a'oinmoisln." Jotir said calmly.

“He said you should apologize to your clan chief for yelling.” Elena said, wincing.

“What?” JJ yelled.

Jotir swatted her again. "Atv riest na' daetv ha'ois vreri."

“And learn to mind your place.” Elena translated.

“Go to hell!” JJ tried to get free but ended up swatted again.

Spencer’s mind had frozen at the first sight of what was going on.   Now he realized that he needed to step in.   “Okay, I think that...”

“I do not need your help, Spencer!”   JJ growled at him. “I can take care of myself!” Jotir swatted her again. “Ow!”

Wait a minute. Spencer considered the situation. She was wearing the heavy jeans she had worn to go out in the woods, and Jotir wasn’t hitting her at all hard, at least not for someone used to training with Morgan. “Didn’t you tell me back in the cell that you wanted someone to take control of things?”

“What?!”

Spencer turned back to his chess game. “If you want someone to take control you have to be willing to give some up.”  He moved his piece. “I assume that’s why you don’t want me involved.”

“To you? Ow!”

“Or to Jotir there if you prefer.” Ladz moved and he considered his options.

“You have...Ow!... got to be... Ow!... joking!”

“Or Will, Hotch....” Ahh, this move here.

“Just because I am a woman...Ow!....that does not mean...Ow!...”

Everyone else was carefully not paying attention to what was going on. The polite thing seemed to be to ignore it. Even the younger ones were focused on their lesson. “This doesn’t have anything to do with gender. As near as I can tell it has to do with personality. Who you want to...to submit to is entirely up to you but you don’t seem to be happy with a...more dominant role.” Ladz’s move was not what an Earth player would do. It was interesting.

“You don’t know that! Ow!”

“You told me JJ. You told me back in the cell that you wanted someone to take control and when no one did you had to do it yourself. I know you and Will have been fighting about that, I believe ever since you got back from Afghanistan. You want him to be more decisive around the house, to take control over things and he’s not comfortable without your input so he would like you home more. And given that he is not a dominant personality it was probably a problem before the wedding. That might explain your reluctance to marry him before he showed dominance during the bank robbery.” He came up with an equally interesting countermove. “I think some of your behavior of late has been a subconscious desire to push boundaries to try to force someone to take control.”

“How do you know...Ow!...that we’ve been fighting?!”

“Henry told me. He calls me when you fight. That’s why you kept finding your phone in his room.” And now he could see the end of it.

JJ stopped yelling and fighting. As a result Jotir stopped swatting her behind and held her there. “Son of a bitch.” She said softly.

“This problem has been affecting your son. Maybe it’s time to pull it out into the light and deal with it directly. There’s an opportunity to do that here.” Spencer said gently. “You might consider it.” He looked over at Elena. “Tell Jotir I said to let her go, please.”

Elena translated causing Jotir to immediately release his hold. JJ scrambled to her feet and stood there, looking down at him, considering. “You okay?” Spencer asked.

“Physically,” she said. She was still looking at Jotir, who looked up at her, his face utterly impassive. “I’m sorry I yelled like that.”

“It was understandable. Apology accepted.”

“We’re not supposed to profile each other you know.”

“I know. But Henry is involved.”

“Good reason for it.” She sighed. “This is really complicated, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but it will work out.” Somehow.

As Jotir moved back over to Bastian’s bunk to go back to bathing his blisters JJ slid into Spencer’s bunk to watch him. She was quiet the rest of the evening.

Spencer won the game.

 


	36. Chapter 36

**Chapter 36**

**Day 09**

"And this was the best plan they could come up with." Morgan grumbled.

The best plan they could come up with involved trusting a prison inspector. According to Xetvis he was trustworthy because his wife had been infected, had been taken to a workhouse, and had not survived her first week. The desire for revenge made someone trustworthy apparently.

Said prison inspector was an officer, of course. Morgan and Maddox had been issued regular guard uniforms, local weapons with ammo, and been given a quick drilling on how two "assistants" to an inspector ought to behave. Now they were on their way to Workhouse 8 where they were going to be welcomed if not with open arms then, at least, with grudging respect. "It's the best way we could find to get you in there." Maddox said.

"I've got their pictures. Why not send it with someone who can speak their language?"

"Because sometimes the faction leaders disfigure their members. Break their facial bones, give them burn scars, things like that."

That sounded familiar. "One of our victims came back like that." Morgan said. "Why?"

"In theory it keeps the guards from getting ideas."

"Ideas?"

Most of the people who become guards are sick perverts looking for victims. Once you're known as infected you're not human anymore, no one outside of your work group cares what happens to you."

Morgan nodded, "Sadists with a ready made victim pool. I'm tracking. So the disfiguring is supposed to lower their victim profile, makes sense. You think they would have done Reid and JJ? Never mind." JJ was a classic beauty and Reid was pretty enough to be a girl. "Pictures aren't going to get it done."

"Nope. We're going late in the day so you can see both shifts as they go in and out of the dorms. Hopefully you can spot your people or they will spot you. Once we know where they are we can plan a raid. Just don't be surprised if the locals invite us to join in the party. Everyone is supposed to approve."

"If everyone is complicit no one can give the game away. Anyone who refuses is suspect." Morgan felt sick. "How much will they want us to join in?"

"Hopefully not much," Maddox looked out the window as the car turned off the main road. "Remember, we're not here to fight the whole planet. Stay focused on the mission."

"Got it." But could he? Morgan had to wonder. Could he turn his back on a victim and focus or JJ and Reid?

Maddox noticed his hesitation and growled. "I mean it Agent."

"I got it."

They pulled up in front of a brick building the size of a stadium that seemed to be attached to a factory of some kind, took positions and followed the inspector in. The set up was simple, the inspector would do a spot check of the books, something they expected to happen randomly. While he was doing that he would suggest that someone show his men around, they were new and all. Maddox would chat up their tour guide while Morgan looked for JJ and Reid. The inspector would keep them there through the shift change, then they would head out. Simple.

And it all went according to plan. Entering the place was little different from entering any other prison, something Morgan had done for years. They were turned over to some junior officer who gave them the grand tour of the place. He seemed quite proud of their dining hall, which was decorated with trophies and banners won at tournaments, historical pictures, nothing unusual. What was unusual were the strange objects on the floor. Maddox had told the guard that Morgan couldn't speak, so he couldn't ask, but on closer inspection he figured it out. Hopefully neither Reid nor JJ had ever been brought to a hall like this or they might not get them back all the way.

Maddox must have told the guard that they wanted to see a shift change. About the time a low whistle blew they found themselves on a catwalk overlooking a wide, long hall that funneled people into and out of the sleeping area. Said area was also familiar to Morgan, it looked a lot like the gyms at prisons out in the west, converted into large, overcrowded dorms only this was about four times that size. It was full of unwashed, miserable people, now pushing their way out to get to the factory. But there was no overly tall doctor, no petite blonde with good moves. After a few another crowd pushed in to the space next door, but again, no one familiar. When Maddox looked over Morgan had to shake his head. One down.

Then they offered them a tour of the factory. Morgan shrugged, his work here was done, whatever fit the situation until they could get out of here.

Turned out the place was some kind of steel mill.

Now as Morgan understood it these were supposed to be chronically sick people. Granted Maddox and his men seemed just fine, but he could chalk that up to being in excellent condition when they started and having the finest care available. And the people back at the camp seemed all right, but he hadn't seen many of them, the sick ones could be in their beds for all he knew. What he did know was that he wouldn't wish these jobs on the worst Unsubs they had ever found. At every turn he found people working in horrible conditions, people too old and too young and too frail to be doing the work. At some stations people were repeatedly sprayed with what had to be a toxic mix of water and oils and chemicals until they were soaked, over and over again, moving so frantically to keep up with the machines that they didn't even have time to wipe their faces. At another, red hot bars of metals moved inches above their heads, Morgan could see the constant fear in their eyes and the sweat dripping from their bodies but they could not stop for an instant. He could tell that bathroom breaks didn't happen and he would be surprised if they got lunch or anything at all. And then he remembered what Maddox said about his sense of smell and he had to wonder about other senses and the reek of hot metal and chemicals and the constant ringing din and the sharp contrast between light and dark. Work could be torture and this was.

But it didn't get really bad until the tour took them up on the catwalks.

They were on a high one, looking over an immense hall with three gigantic machines at one end. It was dark up here but hot as hell, if he was a turkey he'd be well on his way to the holiday table. But as he looked around and Maddox made idle chatter with their guide he watched six other guards, laughing amongst themselves, dragging three prisoners, two women and a man, along a catwalk lower down and much closer to those machines. Much, much closer to those machines. He elbowed Maddox who looked and went back to his discussion. A moment later their guide went down to ask the other guards what was going on. "He said to put these on." Maddox said, handing Morgan some safety goggles. "We're going to see something soon."

"Like what? What are they doing?"

"He said they were teaching them who to be afraid of here."

"Oh that can't be good."

As they watched the three prisoners were dragged out to a small bump out in the catwalk directly over one of the machines. They were chained up spread eagled, facing the machines. Morgan turned away, he knew what was coming the moment he saw the knives, and while everyone else might watch as their clothes were cut away he didn't feel the need to add to the eyes watching. Their cries were already tearing at his nerves.

"Focus on the mission, Agent." Maddox growled.

"I got it."

A few minutes later a warning alarm sounded. Morgan and Maddox put on their safety goggles and looked over at the giant machine in front of them.

A moment later the giant machine...the giant furnace...started pouring off the molten hot steel directly in front of them. A waterfall of fire started raining down to the floor below.

Morgan heard a strange yelping sound beside him. He turned and saw Maddox mesmerized by the sight, frozen in terror, his eyes wide and unable to move. As he watched Morgan could swear Maddox's eyes turned from baby blue to a brilliant, unnatural amber. "Maddox. Maddox! Hold it together!" He grabbed the other man's arm, getting his focus on him. "Breathe, all right! Breathe! You got to keep it together, man! You got this!"

Morgan's focus was on Maddox until the furnace finally ran down and the waterfall of fire stopped. Then the other man finally started to relax. Morgan watched as his eyes bled back to blue once more. "I got it." Maddox finally said. "I'm good."

"Good." Morgan turned his attention back to the prisoners on the catwalk. What he saw there made him glad he didn't have an eidetic memory. Their guide came back and said something, which Maddox replied to, but just then another guard called to them. Maddox tugged his arm and they left, rejoining the inspector and heading out.

It wasn't until they got in the car that they spoke again. "That was interesting." Maddox said.

"Interesting?" Morgan was incensed. This was a society gone completely, utterly wrong. He wanted to put each and every guard away for an Unsub and toss the keys in the furnace.

"The guide said they would get their sight back if they were pleasing enough." Maddox replied. "Don't let me forget to tell Xetvis about that."

Morgan didn't speak to him the rest of the trip back to camp.


	37. Chapter 37

**Chapter 37**

**Day 10**

After the end of work the next day JJ approached Elena. “Translate for me?” Elena agreed and JJ led her over to Jotir. It looked like it was going to be quite a discussion to Spencer, more so given the way JJ had been focusing on Jotir all day. With Ladz’s help he started Aviv covering what English he knew with his sister, then the two men sat down to another chess game. “May I ask you something someone personal and perhaps inappropriate?” He asked.

Ladz was once again entertaining his empty pipe. “Yes yes. I might not answer, but ask. All questions are open to the mind of science, yes?”

“Scientific mind. Would Jotir be considered attractive?”

“Scientific mind, yes, thank you. Not to me, but do you mean to a woman? I too noticed how your kittah travelled today.” He called Adriana over and presented her a question. She looked, replied, and moved back to her chores. “According to a woman yes. Does that answer or shall we do a sampling?” His eyes were twinkling.

Spencer smiled at the tease. “No, that answers. Thank you.” He couldn’t help but hear snatches of the conversation, but if JJ wanted him there she would have said so. It sounded like she was asking how a clan house, specifically a za'rph clan house, functioned. “Do you know anything about clan houses?”

“No, I have never been to one. It is part of our....oh, how do you say...our past, our story, our....”

“Cultural history? The history of the arts, knowledge and customs of a group of people.”

“Yes, that is good. Thank you. I will try to learn from him when I can, as a House Steward he should know much. Check.”

Spencer frowned at the board. “That is not check.”

“Yes.”

“No. Look here...”

After they finished the argument Spencer won that game. They were starting another when supper came around. As bowls of porridge were passed Ladz gestured to Spencer’s bunk with his pipe. “I believe you are wanted.”

Spencer turned to see JJ sitting there, deep in thought. “Yes. Thank you.” He accepted his bowl from one of the others with a murmur of thanks. Apparently clan leaders did not fetch their own food, which baffled him but not his culture. He took it over and climbed in next to JJ. “You okay?”

“I don’t know.” She replied with the tone that indicated that a discussion was beginning.

“You don’t?”

“Is it wrong to wish I could move to one of their clan houses?”

“No. Why though?”

She sighed. “You were right about Will. We’ve been fighting off and on for....a while now. It’s gotten worse since I transferred back. I just want him to step up, you know?”

He thought he did but this wasn’t about him. “No, tell me.”

“He doesn’t make decisions. It seems like no one can just make decisions anymore! So I have to make them all, all of the time. I have to take responsibility for everything from Emily to the work we were doing over in Afghanistan to the profiles now to...to everything at home.”

“Uh huh.”

“And it’s not that I’m not capable. I’m good at my job; I’ve been able to handle everything that’s been thrown at me. And I am a dammed good mother, Henry is fine.”

“But....” He could hear the but in there.

“But it’s exhausting, all right. I get so tired of having to be the one in charge all the time...”

“Um, last I looked Hotch was in charge of the team.”

JJ looked over at him. “Is he? I mean he used to be, back when we first started at the BAU. He was totally the man in charge. And I had responsibility then, having to go through all of those requests all of the time and decide our priorities. But, that was simple...”

“Was it?”

“Yeah. I had criteria Gideon set out to help guide me and sometimes you just knew, you got a feel for it. And liaison work, piece of cake. Not a problem. And Hotch was guiding everything and everything was right with the world, you know? Even when Elle fell apart, it was all still okay.”

Yeah, Spencer remembered those days. “And then...”

“And then Haley left him. That started doing in his confidence. I mean it was slow at first but you could tell that Rossi was propping him up. And then there was that whole business with Foyet and Morgan took over for a while...”

“And then Strauss forced you out and Hotch couldn’t do anything about it.” Part of being a profiler was seeing experiences through someone else’s eyes. “The person you relied on couldn’t be relied on anymore.”

“Yeah. And Rossi was focused on propping Hotch up and Morgan, I mean he’s good but...”

“He’s got his own issues.”

“Yeah.” JJ turned to him and smiled. “I don’t know why we never talked about this before.”

Spencer winced a little. “Honestly? Things have been different since you met Will.”

JJ groaned and threw herself back against the pillows. “There’s the other problem. Will. I swear to god, that man cannot make a decision to save his life! Do you know, at one point I was in Kandahar. We had this one suspect they were trying to interrogate for intel to figure out who kept attacking our bases. She had this doll with her she kept cradling; she would get intensely upset if anyone tried to touch it.”

“Not a developmental issue?” She shook her head. “Missing a child?”

“Yeah. Her child had gone to another refugee camp. I figured if we could get her daughter back to her we would win enough trust that she would talk to us. So there I am on the phone with some UN commander trying to find this kid on one line and the local commander on the other yelling at me that we didn’t have time and he needed intel now and Will’s number pops up. They stopped carrying our usual brand of yogurt at Whole Foods, what should he buy?”

“Ummm...” What could you say to that?

“I know! It’s like, gah, you’re an adult! Make a decision! It’s been like that constantly. And you know, when he went after the bank robbers I thought maybe he was finding himself again. He was stepping up. It was incredibly...”

“Attractive?”

“...arousing...”

“I wasn’t going there.”

“....and I thought that maybe marriage, you know, traditional husband and wife roles, might help move matters along.”

“And they haven’t?”

“No, they’ve gotten worse. His mother is a very strong, dominant Southern lady. She rules the family, always has. I think he expects me to be the same.” JJ sighed again.   “All I want is to be able to go home and have Will say ‘you’re cooking chicken and broccoli tonight, then you get Henry in his bath and bed and I’ll wash up and we’ll watch the movie I picked out.’ That way I don’t have to make any decisions and I can just relax.”

“I can understand that.” Spencer said.

“Do you ever feel that way?”

“No, I’ve always been just the opposite. I’m more relaxed and comfortable when I’m making decisions. That way I know they’re rational ones based in logic, observation and best practices. I actually enjoyed looking after my Mom, you know.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“See, I can’t even wrap my head around that one. You never seemed the type.”

“Really? Is that why you and Hotch kept me out of the whole thing with Emily?”

She sagged again. “That was Strauss. She said she didn’t think you could be trusted, that you didn’t have the clearance, and we couldn’t get yours checked in time...”

“I have a TS/SI clearance. I mean I can’t specify past that...”

JJ sat there blinking at him. “You....”

“I do consulting work for the NSA sometimes.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, Strauss only has a Secret. She doesn’t have enough of a clearance to get your clearance.”

“But they would have told her that.”

“And that would have pissed her off.” She shook her head. “No wonder you were so upset about Emily.”

“Well, part of that was because I have issues with abandonment. Part of it was grieving. And then finding out that you guys didn’t trust me...”

“Which we should have.” She reached over to rub his arm. “I really am sorry.”

That was a sincere apology. “I know.” He said quietly. “I admit, that whole addiction thing comes out of that. It lets you forget that you don’t have any control.”

He saw a light go on in her eyes, “Hankel was a big deal.”

“All of it has been a big deal. Getting shot was a big deal. Losing you and Emily was a big deal. Getting you back was a big deal. Figuring out why my Dad left and not having it change anything was a big deal. Nearly dying twice was a big deal. Being sick the past few years has been a big deal.”

“Has it ever gotten any better?”

“You mean have I ever felt like I have any control over things?”

“Yeah.”

Spencer considered. “You mean before we got here?”

“Yeah.”

“No.”

“And I’ve had way too much. Is it me or is Strauss the common denominator in all of this?”

“She might be. I think I’m going to talk to Hotch about it when we get back. I might have to have a long talk with Strauss.   A long, growly talk with Strauss.” Yes, Spencer thought, very growly. “But what does all this have to do with being part of a clan house?”

“Apparently a clan house, specifically a za'rph clan house, comes with a chain of command. Part of Jotir’s job was to make sure all the kittah were, in his words, gainfully occupied and happy.”

“Which sounds horribly demeaning.”

“I know. But we talked it out and you know, I can take care of myself, I can run my own house...”

“...but it’s exhausting.”

JJ nodded. “I described my job to him and once he got over his horror at the thought of a kittah as a profiler and he accepted that I am not going to quit anytime soon he said that if it was up to him when I wasn’t at work I would be assigned to look after my children, because that was best for them and because I needed to find balance.” She smiled. “Probably never going to happen but it’s kind of a nice thing to fantasize about. Someone else making all the decisions at home so I can just relax and enjoy being a mom.”

“Why can’t it happen?”

She looked over at him. “Will. The way our lives work. A completely different culture.”

“JJ, you deserve to be happy. And you’re not right now.”

“Neither are you.”

“That’s different.”

“How?”

“You can’t force people to listen to logic and make good decisions. You can’t...order them around.”

“You would really be happier looking after people like that?”

“Yes.” Sometimes the decisions people made baffled him. If they would just listen to reason...

She thought about this a long moment. “OK, so tell me what to do?”

“What?”

“No one else is willing to take command anymore, Spence. You’re up. And I’m willing, so, tell me. What do you want me to do?”

Spencer sat back and thought about this a long moment. It had nothing to do with what was best for him, that much was clear. And the Federal Government was not the first priority here. What mattered was....no, who mattered was... “Honestly?”

“I’m all ears.”

“First off I think you need counseling.”

“No, I’m fine Spence.”

He shook his head. “You’ve been showing PTSD symptoms since you got back, which you’ll be doubling up on after this adventure. You’ve been having marital issues, which are now going to be compounded by what amounts to international adoption and trying to blend two more children into your family. You want me to give orders? Fine. You. Get. Therapy.”

She frowned a little. “I really don’t think I need it but...you’re in command. All right.”

“And you will put in for medical leave to deal with all of this.”

“No. The team needs me.”

“We can find someone to cover. You need you. Henry and Lillit need you. A healthy you.” She growled but nodded. “Third you’re going to move out for at least three months.”

“Why?!”

“Because you’re carrying an infectious disease now. You need to learn to adapt to that and you don’t need to do so while trying to protect a three year old. Or with Will pressuring you for unsafe sex, and don’t tell me he wouldn’t.”

JJ opened her mouth to protest but sighed and nodded. “He would. And I never could say no.”

“Something to talk to the counselor about. Lastly when you get back we’ll talk this over with Hotch. I don’t think you need to leave the BAU or stop being a profiler but we need to define everyone’s roles a little more.”

“That would be helpful. So you’re telling me to take a few months, get my head on straight, learn how to live with this, whatever this is, and help my family settle in.”

“Yes. You wanted orders, those are my orders, face your issues head on and take care of yourself and your family so when you come back you’ll be a secure asset in the field. And if anyone gives you a hard time about it I’ll fight for you.”

She looked up at him. “You’re pretty good at taking command; you should do it more often.”

Spencer shrugged. “We’ll see what happens when we get home,”


	38. Chapter 38

**Chapter 38**

**Day 10**

It wasn’t like they were taking a day off. They had gone to another work house the day after their visit to the steel mill, this one a large farm that fed the others. Because it was mostly outdoor work they only ran one day shift. Thanks to their eager to flirt with Maddox tour guide they got to slowly drive around and see the whole place and everyone on it. Once again no JJ, No Reid.

Tomorrow they would go to another one. But now, at least for the community around him, it was time to party. “I know you want to sit down and go over the intel again.” Maddox said. “But it would be rude and we need the good will here.”

“Right.” Morgan decided he would go out, observe and make a polite showing. But he wasn’t going to be doing any partying until JJ and Reid were safely tucked into the quarantine unit back at Detrick. Or better still, home where they belonged.

He hung out at the back with Maddox and his team while the community gathered around the space set up for the Rite of Claiming. At the far end of the clearing where they had their camp they had built a sort of loose woven wood fence with an arched over gate in the center. The whole thing was decorated with flowers and vines, a very celebratory look. Over by the kitchens it looked like every table and chair had been brought out, and they had been cooking enough for a small army. “So this is a wedding?” He asked Maddox.

“Kind of,” Maddox said. “They have a ceremony closer to what we would think of as a wedding, which is what non-infected people have. Infected can have one as well, of course, most do. It’s usually a smaller, more intimate sort of thing, or so I’ve been told. People take their vows to each other, the whole better or worse sort of thing.”

“And this is not that?”

“No, the Rite of Claiming is actually relatively rare. It’s only between infected of the same strain and two different power levels and only after certain other conditions are met.”

“Other conditions?”

“It’s, um, hard to explain if you’re not infected.” Maddox looked a little uncomfortable.

“Right. So what makes the ceremony different?”

“Different vows. In a Rite of Claiming the one making the claim takes his vows before the community. The Clan Chief accepts them and then the one being claimed makes his or her vows to the one doing the claiming. Then they go off and the Claimant marks the claimed. And it is for life, no divorce.”

“Huh.” All right. Morgan leaned against the fence behind them and settled in to watch the show.

The first one up was what he would call the minister. She was an older woman in a severe black dress with her black and grey hair up in a snug bun. She stepped up in front of the gate, turned to the assembled crowd which quieted down, and began speaking formally from the book she held in her hands. Morgan didn’t know the language but he could guess that this was the part where they talked about marriage being a scared institution and so on. Thankfully she did not seem like she was dragging at all.

She didn’t. In a very reasonable amount of time a young man stood up. He was very neatly if not formally dressed and was wearing a wreath of greenery on his head which had to identify him as part of the wedding party. He made a very formal sort of bow, one arm folded at the back of his waist, the other at the front, which the celebrant acknowledged with a nod. Then two more men stood up. The one in front was older, dressed in a formal suit and practically radiated power. The one a step behind him was younger, looked shy as a doe, was also dressed neatly but informally and wore a wreath of flowers. There was no doubt that the first man and the third were the ones getting hitched here, the wonder and love just sparkled in their eyes when they saw each other. “Gay is not a big deal here?” Morgan asked Maddox.

“Nope. Especially not when it comes to a claim. That can make people switch sides.”

“Damn.” Powerful stuff that.

The celebrant smiled and bowed to the man in the suit who bowed back, although neither as deeply or precisely as the one the first man had given.   To Morgan their body language said equals, at least on this day. No one seemed to pay any attention to the third man, except for the first who kept looking over and giving nervous smiles. Then the celebrant caught the first man’s attention and started reading off what had to be a list of vows, with him giving a positive if formal answer to each one. That had to be the better or worse part of the event.

When this was over Celebrant turned to Suit and asked him a question. He gave a positive answer and turned to First Man. First Man gave him the same formal bow he had given Celebrant, and Suit nodded in reply. Then Suit turned to Third Man and asked him something. Third man had to try twice, a sign of nerves which everyone laughed at gently, but he answered in the positive. He then collected a hug from Suit. “The giving away part?” Morgan asked.

“Yep.” Maddox replied.

At that point Suit stepped away and sat down. Third Man stepped up and gave First Man that formal, precise bow which First Man accepted with that nod and a huge grin. Then Celebrant started going down the vow list with Third Man, who looked to be answering to First Man. About the time it started Morgan thought he could feel a tension growing in the crowd, an excitement that seemed to be slowly building. He could see First Man responding to it as well, shifting about a little as if impatient for something.

It didn’t take long. Celebrant asked the last vow which Third Man answered with a smile. She turned and made a pronouncement to the crowd, which seemed to collectively inhale and hold its breath. Then she closed her book, turned, swung open the ceremonial gate to the forest, and stepped out of the way.

This was it. There was a sense that this was the important part. The crowd almost seemed to lean forward as First Moved. He started walking around Third Man in slow circles, never taking his eyes off of him. Slowly he circled, almost like a predator evaluating his prey, while the tension built and built. Third Man got more and more wound up just standing there, meeting his love’s eyes every time he circled him.

And then First Man stumbled ever so slightly on the uneven ground.

At that moment Third Man launched himself through the gate, running as fast as he could for the woods beyond. First Man let out a growl of a sound and took off after him. Immediately the crowd let out a joyful cry, cheering them on as they ran for the tree line. As the two men disappeared from sight Celebrant closed the gate and the crowd started cheering and clapping for the new couple.

“And that’s it?” Morgan asked.

“Yep,” Maddox said, a huge grin on his face. “When they come around in the morning the little one will have his claim mark on and that’ll be that.”

“The night in the woods? With those things...”

“They’ll be fine. Come on. Chow time.” Morgan clapped him on the back and led him over to the kitchen area.

* * *

 

The next morning Morgan got up early. He had eaten enough last night to be polite, stayed up late enough to not offend, and skipped all alcohol. He would party when his friends were home, now he wanted to get back to looking for them.

He got to the kitchen for breakfast and realized that the newlyweds were back. Their clothes looked about as tousled as you would expect from a wedding night in the woods, and they were blushing all over the place from the comments people were making. Yeah, for all that his focus was elsewhere he had to admit that it was cute.

And then he got a look at the claimed one, Third Man. “Is that...” He asked Maddox who had come up to join him.

Maddox looked around at the groom in question. “Claim mark.” He said. “Kid did a good job of it.”

It was a _bite_.

First Man had literally bitten Third Man, from the back from the looks of it, right where his neck met his shoulder. It was a deep bite that had drawn blood, although it looked to be healing already, one that showed a clear pattern of teeth. Morgan considered angles and positioning and concluded that it was highly likely that it happened during sex. “What, did he hold him down like that?”

Maddox looked at him and then looked away. “Yeah.” He said into his coffee.

Third Man was wearing his shirt open and back, almost proudly showing off the bite. Now First Man came over with a jar and started smearing ointment on it. Third Man hissed like he was in pain. “That will make certain it scars.” Maddox said. “It has silver in it as well as some kind of herbs.”

“Silver?”

“Yeah, the infection makes you allergic to it. Between that and the herbs he’ll keep the scar through the shifting phase, should he ever make one. It’ll show who’s claimed him now.”

“Right.”   Morgan was quite glad that JJ was married, and that Reid would likely end up in Vegas if he ever did find a girl. This claiming crap was creepy. “Better him than me.”

Maddox chuckled at that. “Amen.”


	39. Chapter 39

**Chapter 39**

**Day 11**

Knowing he was way too close and knowing this needed special handling and something more cowboy-like to get it handled Hotch called Sam Cooper and Emily to both help figure out what the hell was up with Donaldson. No one was surprised when it turned out to open a bucket of worms, but it turned out to be much larger than expected.   “The problem is that this lab is empty.” Cooper said over the secure video link.

Just then Blake finally made it in. “What did I miss?” She asked.

“It turns out Donaldson is working without sanction.” Rossi told her.

“What?” Blake looked shocked.

“He’s been funneling information and materials from our case and classified Unit L13 material to a private individual.” Hotch said. “We’re still trying to find out whom.”

“And why.” Rossi said. “Granted we’ve been leaking this all over but other thanWill everyone we’ve told has some kind of clearance.”

“McGuire is on her way to where she can pick up a secure line in.” Hotch said. Just then the third line opened. “Major McGuire. You’re in conference. Did you get the updates I sent you?”

“I did.” She said. “Agent Cooper, there are no known airborne vectors for this but tell me you and your people have gloved up.”

Cooper held up his hands. “Double layers. We ain’t taking any chances.”

“I’ll need you to have your forensic people send all of the equipment to my lab; we’ll need to see what strain we’re working with.”

“Does it matter?” Rossi asked.

She nodded. “It can for controlling the spread if anyone else is infected. We’ve only worked with one of the nine known strains, the za’rph strain. We don’t have any systems in place to control the others; until we do victims carrying those strains would have to remain in quarantine.”

“Mental note,” Cooper said.

“We’re still back to why.” Blake said. She looked up at McGuire, “Any ideas?”

McGuire shook her head. “Some aspects of this still have to remain secret.”

“If it’s any help.” Emily spoke up. “I’ve been able to track Unit L13’s movements. They’ve been doing a lot of work along the Afghanistan/Pakistan border, working in conjunction with Operation: Classified.”

“I’ve been in that region.” Hotch said. “It’s a hard area for anyone, let alone ‘sick’ people. Some aspect of this makes them better soldiers, doesn’t it?” He asked McGuire.

She sighed and nodded. “I’m not getting into details...”

“Security is already compromised...”

“But HIPPA laws have not been.” She shot back. “If you want the details of what it means to be sick you can get it from your subordinates, not from me. But yes, in a way this does make people into a sort of a...a super soldier. There are costs, of course, but in the right situation the changes can be invaluable. I don’t know if that helps figure out why...”

“It does.” Rossi replied. “Posse Comitatus”

“In English?” Cooper asked.

“The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 states that the government cannot deploy members of the Armed Forces for any action within the United States except in cases of lawlessness, insurrection and rebellion under direct order of the President.” Hotch replied. “Maddox and his men are Air Force; whatever they can do they can’t do it here.”

“But a couple of FBI agents could.” Rossi said. “I’m thinking a case like Eric Randall Rudolph.”

“Who?” McGuire asked.

“The Olympic Park Bomber.” Blake said. “He spent five years hiding out in the Appalachian wilderness.”

“We only caught him because some rookie deputy got lucky.” Rossi added

“Ahhh,” McGuire nodded. “Maddox and his men could have had him out of there in 24 hours.”

“But if that’s what they’re looking for then why transfer JJ and Spencer out of the BAU?” Emily asked. “The unit is already set up for fast response and it gets called in on those cases all the time. It’s perfect cover.”

“Because they weren’t,” Cooper said. “They were going to tell them to report to their new unit and there they go. No one would be looking for them. How better to keep them in a lab as long as they want. They got patient rooms in here.”

“Oh god,” Blake said.

“Coop, can you keep working on who’s behind this?” Hotch asked. “You take the external, we’ll take the internal.”

“Better you then me.” Cooper replied, “You with me on this London?”

“I’m here if you need me.” Emily said.

The two of them rang off, leaving the team to discuss. “Do you think Erin knows that Donaldson is acting without sanction?” Blake asked.

“I doubt it.” Rossi replied. “Erin is ambitious and narcissistic, she’s not a traitor. All Donaldson would have to do is promise her advancement if she forced the transfer. She’d get to move ahead and tear the team apart at the same time. Then he and they disappear and she’s left spinning in the wind. It’s a perfect plan.”

“They couldn’t have planned this in advance.” Blake said.

“No, they probably got it started when the first bodies started showing up. All of a sudden they have a lot more infectious material they can work with. Easier to make some of it disappear into a lab where it can be refined to use on others, make private super soldiers. All they had to know in advance was that Erin was a weak spot. As soon as JJ and Reid disappeared they went to work on her.” He looked over at McGuire. “A bigger question might be how the materials and intel is getting out of your lab. None of us knew what was going on for years. ”

She shook her head. “I trust my people.”

“Do you trust Beauregard’s?” Hotch asked.

She opened her mouth to reply but stopped. “Son of a bitch.”

“We’ll get on that investigation too.”

“Which still leaves us the question of what to do about Erin?” Blake said.

“This makes it easy.” Rossi replied. “She’s been assisting a traitor, passing classified material, hampering an ongoing investigation. She can either take that blow, or if they’re right about the drinking quietly head off to rehab. Either way, her career is over.”

Blake sighed. “It’s a sad thing in the end.”

Hotch shook his head. “She made her own mistakes.”

* * *

 

“Okay, I’m sorry but I don’t get it.” Garcia said later. “Why does she hate JJ and Reid so much?”

“I don’t think she hates JJ.” Rossi said as they wandered back to his office. “JJ has always been the heart of the team, so to speak, someone we go to for emotional support and nurturing. Even Maddox picked up on that. Hurting her hurt the rest of us.”

“Okay, but what about Reid?”

“I think because a narcissist is constantly rewriting reality to suit their own needs. Editing the past, changing facts, denying others, whatever it takes to support their self-image and they need the people around them to accept and adhere to _their_ version of events to ensure support. So they constantly undermine the perception of reality of those around them. They casually deny things happened, insist others things that did did not, and ruthlessly crack down on dissenting versions of events so that we learn not to trust our own recollections, that we will believe their 'official record' over our own memories. We start to believe we simply have bad recollections, or tend to remember things wrong because of this constant campaign of eroding our own perception of events.  But Reid has a court-certified eidetic memory, he always remembers facts and events accurately and his version will always be believed over hers. That makes him nearly impossible for her to manipulate. By extension we’re nearly impossible to manipulate and our history and reputation are nearly impossible to manipulate. So she has to keep trying to discredit and isolate him to save her own sense of self.”

“So he’s, like, the anti-Strauss?”

“Something like that. He counterbalances her without realizing it. And he’s also not afraid of her for some reason. You would expect someone of his age and time in the Bureau to be afraid of someone who could take their job away. She would expect that.”

Garcia shook her head. “Have you ever seen his investment account?”

“Investments?”

“Yeah.   Some of the stuff he did back at CalTech has been patented. He’s actually a silent partner in a few companies because of it. He works here because he wants to be here.”

Rossi blinked at that, “Really?”

“Yeah?”

“Tell me which ones, I’ll talk to my broker.”

At least he got Garcia to smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Much thanks to Polenicus for his insight on the Narcissistic mind


	40. Chapter 40

**Chapter 40**

**Day 11**

Spencer dried himself with the handy rag after the end of day wash up and considered the scene before him. There was no other way to describe it, JJ was flirting with Jotir. She’d brought him water 0.57 times more than anyone else, and every time she’d taught him a new word in English. And Jotir clearly appreciated both the attention and the woman; it was as if he could see through the scars. The two of them were currently over by a sink, exchanging words in each other’s languages and interested looks.

“Wipe my back off, please.” Elena asked him. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m wondering if I should say something.” He admitted as he wiped the acrid dust off her skin.

“About JJ and Jotir?” Elena looked back over her shoulder at him as he finished. “Thank you. Why would you say anything?”

“She’s married.”

“So? I know this sounds horrible but there’s no guarantee she’ll survive this. Let her take what comfort she can.”

“They have a child.”

“Yeah, I remember. You told me about him. Of course that means they waited a long time before they made that commitment, that doesn’t speak to a secure attachment to me.” She said. Interesting point. “And did you stop to think that she’s going home with an incurable sexually transmitted disease? How is that going to affect that attachment?”

Spencer quickly reviewed the profile they did of Will back when he and JJ were dating. Granted it had been made over pizza and beer at Emily’s one night, but it was still viable. “Not well.” Will was not going to appreciate the job invading his sex life. Not one bit.

“See.” Elena looked over at Jotir again. “He’s attractive and attracted and is already comfortable dealing with this illness and with raising other people’s children.”

“Which is another point to consider. I don’t know how Will will take adoption, especially given the circumstances.”

“So let her go. Let her have some place to land. She’ll need that if it happens.”

Just then Lillit came over and tugged on her hand. "Cet zi yesti et English rilla't ta'z, vrieli? I'd ma'siv!"

Elena laughed. “Someone is bored and wants her lessons.”

Spencer chuckled and trailed along after them, once Ladz and Aviv caught up. English lesson time meant time for a chess game. Ladz was rapidly becoming a challenging player, playing him was a lot of fun. And as his English improved hopefully so would the topics up for discussion, he’d love to know more about the wormhole program and the science behind it. But there was something else going as well, he knew where his people were and they were all right, that thought brought a warm frisson of comfort.

But when they returned to their corner life was not comforting. Adriana had pressed herself into the changing corner at the end of the row, huddled down on the floor like she wanted to melt through it. Kaeg was down there, trying to talk her out of her fear or something. And Bastian was standing over them like a thundercloud. An educated guess had Spencer turning toward the catwalk. There was a new officer reviewing the guards, tall, older, impeccable, with a hawk-like profile. Oh goddammed son-of-a.... “Odot?” Spencer asked Bastian.

“Yill.” He replied, thunder in his voice as well.

Shit. “Why would he come back here?” It didn’t matter that he and Bastian did not speak the same language, at the moment voice infliction and body language communicated more than well enough. This was a problem they needed to solve. “I don’t have enough data for a profile.”

As they watched Odot finished what he was doing and stepped back through the door to the rest of the building. Adriana gave one broken sob and crawled out of the corner. "Da' aen!" She pleaded, catching Bastian’s elbow. "Dilnsa'h di! Megi di e da'tlnis yi za't'n zetn! I'rr va' ethnyaetk, qoin vrieli! I ret'n va' nyen ekeaet! I ret'n! I ret'n!"

Bastian looked at Kaeg, whose shoulder’s sagged as regret and resignation filled his eyes. But he nodded. "Arr saekyn." The leader said. He reached under his bunk and pulled out one of the bottles of alcohol. He passed it off to Adriana who started to guzzle. "Lin'l lin aen oiv."

People stepped back and started moving bunks. Spencer turned to Jotir. “You help Bastian.” He managed to communicate with gestures and body language. “JJ.” With her help he pulled the blanket down off of her bed and his and started tucking them around the bottom of Aviv’s bunk, turning Lad’s bunk into a little tent, one that got pushed a bit further away than his. He left the back side of it, the side away from where this was being done, open for light. “In you get.” He said to Lillit, who grinned and climbed in. “Go sit with your sister.” He told Aviv, pushing him in after her. Then he handed the lesson notebook to JJ, “Your turn to teach English.”

“How?” She asked.

“I don’t know. Sketch drawings of things and give them names. Teach them Tic-tack-toe. Just keep Lillit busy so she doesn’t look.”

“Right.” JJ climbed in after them.

A nod sent Ladz around to the far side of the bunk to stand guard. Spencer himself turned to both stand witness and guard this side, just in case the guards decided to interfere this time and come out with batons swinging or something. He turned to Elena. “You can help her?”

“If she needs it,” Elena agreed.

Adriana had chugged a good two-thirds of the bottle already and was starting to stagger from the effects. One of the other women helped her out of her shirt and set it aside for her. "Na'!" She snapped. "Ya'oi nyaetg yi kaestil e vedt ema'oin dh pheri? Da' aen phoirgaetk saekyn!" Then she started stripping out of the rest of her clothes. When she was completely naked she spread her arms for Bastian. “Da' aen phoirgaetk saekyn!"

Spencer could understand the hesitation. Truth was she was an ideal woman, a model beauty in many ways. He could imagine she would have done well in the movies or even on the stage. But all of that was gone now, taken from her by a system that condemned her to hell for no good reason at all. "I ed la'ssh." Bastian said, and then he struck the first blow.

As hard as it was they all stood witness to her desperate bravery.

When it was done she was a wreck. Her body would be webbed by scars, her face misshapen; her hair chopped and made to look like it was falling out. She’d passed out somewhere in the middle of it all from the pain and the alcohol. Now Kaeg, his face wet with tears, gathered her up into his arms and took her back to the privacy of their bunk. “Nyetg ha'oi,” he said as he went past Bastian.

Bastian’s face was a mask, but Spencer could see the deep anger hiding there. Sometimes a leader had to make hard choices, do hard things. But that never meant that he had to like them.

Only Jotir looked less than horrified. "Iph zi yev e da'a'tra'rres zi ra'oirv silna'si yis mieoinh zyit aen zel lephi." He said. "Boin aeph zi yev e da'a'tra'rres zi ra'oirv va' e ra'n a'ph nyaetkl."

"If we had a da'a'tra'rres we could restore her beauty when it was safe." Elena translated. "But if we had a da'a'tra'rres we could do a lot of things."

“A da'a'tra'rres?” Spencer asked

“I don’t know.” Elena replied. She turned and asked and got a fairly long reply that included gesturing like something that went around the neck. “The best translation I can come up with is that it lets that which is within out. Apparently they’re used in coming-of-age ceremonies and loyalty rituals but can also be used for healing. They were rare and beautiful artifacts. Aviv and Lillit’s family had a matched set of eight, something he is very proud of, but they were confiscated when the government invaded their home.” He said something else, only to have Bastian hiss at him in a way that silenced him. “He seems to think they could be used for a prison break.” Elena said.

That was interesting. “I wonder what it would take to smuggle some in.” Spencer said.

“I have no idea.” Elena turned and asked Bastian.

Bastian didn’t reply, but he didn’t have to. From the way he met Spencer’s eyes he knew the other man was wondering the exact same thing.


	41. Chapter 41

**Chapter 41**

**Day 12**

When you are trapped in a nightmare things have a habit of getting worse.

There was a certain etiquette to the set up of the work groups in here. Only one work group occupied a row, even if that meant bunks went unused or people had to double up. Where two groups met side by side you got out of bed toward the side of your group, leaving the aisle in between empty as a border. Kittah members slept in the area furthest from other groups, with the kapo around them for protection.   And members of one group did not enter another’s territory without asking permission of the workgroup leader, ever.

So it was unusual when after the work the leader of the raea’t group walked over to the za’rph and addressed someone. That someone immediately turned and came over to Bastian. “Their leader would like to speak with him.” Elena translated.

Spencer kind of drifted after him, not to eavesdrop but to study the two men. He had no idea how much was their inherent personalities and how much was the infection but the differences between them was clear. Bastian was solid, as tidy as he could be under the circumstances, with an air of military precision, hierarchy and confidence. He moved, stood and spoke like a soldier. The other man was much more sensual in the way he carried himself. There was a lazy sense to his power, confidence yes but casual. It was interesting.

He wandered back to their corner and was about to settle in when Bastian came up to them. "I'd la'ssh na' yesti na' msaetk ha'oi nyael tizl." He said.   "Ya'ois phsaeitv Bsaeet vaeiv reln taekyn. Tyi koiesvl, a'ph ra'oisli."

"I'm sorry to have to bring you this news."   Elena translated. "Your friend Brian died last night. The guards, of course."

“Oh son of a bitch!” JJ moaned. She landed on one of the bunks, her hands over her eyes. Immediately Jotir moved to her side and pulled her in.

Son of a bitch indeed. Spencer couldn’t help but think that they had failed there. But his mind immediately leaped to other possibilities. “Is there any way I can get in to see the body?” He asked Elena.

She frowned at that. “Why...”

“Just ask Bastian.”

She turned and translated and then translated his reply. “He said probably not, and he wants to know why.”

Spencer focused on Bastian. “Bullshit! There is a thriving black market here; someone has to be moving around the building to move goods. I need five minutes with the body and a sharp knife, what’s it going to cost me?” He had to do this, it had to work! It had to!

Bastian looked over at him and sized up the level of emotion. He listened to the translation and replied in kind. “He said Jax could probably get you in there but it will cost more than we have.”

“Spence?” Spencer turned to see JJ, her eyes wide as she mentally caught up. “Here” She said. She reached up and removed her diamond wedding ring from the chain around her neck. “That should help.”

He blinked at this. It was vastly more than he had considered. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. It’s more than worth it. Besides, it’s insured.”

“All right.” He turned to Ladz. “What would it take for you to reprogram the timer on one of those sampling devices?”

Ladz looked confused for a moment but then he realized as well and hissed low. “Something small and sharp. A.... vaet. Sizaetk vaet. A small, sharp thing you use to make clothing, yah?” He made a motion like he was sewing.

“A needle or a straight pin. Got it.” Spencer turned back to Bastian. “Where is Jax?”

Jax turned out to inhabit the last bunk at the far end of the room. As they moved down that way Bastian spoke quietly. Elena tagged along to translate. “He said to let him negotiate. Jax is nsiiren, the only one here. They’re very cold hearted.”

“Negotiating with Spock? Great.” Elena flashed a quick smile at Spencer. But then they were there, at the bunk of a stocky man with grey-brown hair and grey-brown eyes that gave nothing away. Jax bowed politely to the leader of the za’rph and the negotiation began. Jax looked over the ring, considered what was being asked, then studied the way the light came in the high windows. Finally he turned to Bastian and answered, passing back the ring. Bastian replied to Elena who turned to Spencer. “He said he’ll only take you, and you have to go right now.” She said. “You can use his knife while you’re there and he has a straight pin we can keep.”

“Good enough. He gets the ring when I return safely.” This was agreed to. Spencer turned, pulled Elena into his arms and kissed her soundly, heedless of whom was watching. “If I don’t come back go home with JJ and Lillit, all right?”

“Yes. But you come back.” She replied, worry in her eyes.

“I love you.” He told her. Then he let her go and nodded to Jax. “Let’s go.”

Their route took them through an access door near the bathroom, one hidden in the shadows and behind a shelf. This led to a small utility space that took much ducking and crawling through. At the other end they emerged into a hallway near a stairs, still well within the locked and guarded perimeter of the place. The hallway was deserted but Spencer could hear people nearby, and smell people who smelled like the original Unsub, who had to be uninfected aliens.   And something else, something savory and rich that made him salivate. Right, the guards were at or going to dinner. Best time to move.

And move they did. Quick as they could down the stairs, the most vulnerable time, and out into what Spencer thought was the cellar, then down this corridor and then another. Only once did they have to pull back, hide behind a linen cart as someone went by, pulling on a uniform coat. Then with a quick turn and another they were in what had to be a morgue.

They stored bodies in literal drawers here, and their body bags closed differently, but the concept was close enough. The third drawer revealed Brian, his face passive and beautiful in death, the sharp, warm reek of blood under him. Jax made a disgusted sound, covered his face and turned away but Spencer did not let the smell stop him. He held out his hand for the knife even as he pulled down the bag. Sure enough there was the long tube of the transmitting device under Brian’s skin. With one slice of the knife he was able to pull it free.

He knew they had little time but for a moment he studied the beautiful face in front of him. “I’m sorry.” He said quietly. “I’m sorry you were pulled in to all of this. I’m sorry we couldn’t do more to help. I’m sorry you had to die just as you found love and I’m sorry we won’t be able to bring your body home. But in the time I knew you you seemed like a decent guy, and I’d like to think you’d understand and wouldn’t want your death to be for nothing.” He covered that face with the bag once more. “Rest in peace.”

Jax put an eye up when he saw the glass tube but Spencer pulled it back and shook his head, he was not giving this away. Making their way back was as simple as heading down, they could hear the laughter coming from what had to be the guard’s dining hall as they edged past. Then it was back into the utility tunnel and back to the dorm. Jax handed over the last bit of the bargain, a straight pin and in return Spencer handed over the ring.

Totally worth it.

He made his way back to the za’rph corner, gathered up a relieved kiss from Elena and showed off his prize to a grinning JJ and Ladz. “Wyen esi ha'oi ka'aetk na' va' zaeny nyen?" Bastian asked.

“What are you going to do with that?” Elena translated.

Spencer looked at his group and grinned. “I’m going to get Aviv and Lillit out of here.”

 


	42. Chapter 42

**Chapter 42**

**Day 13**

"Good morning." Dave Rossi said as Alex Blake joined him at the coffee counter.

"Ga'a'v da'staetk." Blake replied.

"I beg your pardon?"

"McGuire shared what they have on language. I've been trying to learn a few words. I've also picked up Yil. Na'. Hirra'. Ga'a'v mhi. Prieli. Tyetg ha'oi. Among others of course. It's a beautiful language, very lyrical."

Rossi just nodded at her. "Good to know."

Just then Hotch joined them. "We may have a problem." He said.

"Oh?" Rossi asked.

"Cooper's team found a connection between Donaldson's lab and at least five of Beauregard's techs."

"That's a problem."

"They can't want to hurt them." Blake said. "Whoever Donaldson is working for wants to get his hands on what JJ and Reid are carrying. Alive preferably or else the samples from the bodies retrieved so far would have been enough for them. Can whatever they're using be re-programmed to send them somewhere else?"

Hotch considered this and pulled out his phone.

* * *

If it wasn't for the sky Morgan could believe he was somewhere on earth. Another country, sure, one where he didn't know the language and the vegetation was unfamiliar. But earth just the same.

He was sitting on a rock with a cup of camp coffee looking over the central square. These were good people, he thought, Kind to each other, treat their kids right, keep the place up. Good neighbors as Aunt Yvonne would say. Decent folks. If it wasn't for Reid and JJ being stuck he'd probably be having a good time learning about these people and this culture.

But Reid and JJ were still in harm's way. And when he looked up in the sky and saw the cloud of asteroids where a moon used to be he knew he was still there himself. "No moon here." He said as Maddox came up to him.

"Nope. It was destroyed somehow. That cloud seems to help with the weather though, they do all right."

"Yeah."

"Hey Capt." One of the men, Ramirez, came up to them with a report off the transmitter. "We got a problem."

Maddox read over the report. "Son of a bitch."

"What now?" Morgan asked.

"They think Donaldson got some of the guys to tinker with the wormhole machine. We may run into problems getting home."

Oh hell. "Just what we need." Morgan said.

"Hopefully they can get it fixed in time."

"Hopefully."

* * *

"Are you ready?" Spencer asked.

It had come down to a question of mass. According to Ladz's calculations he could easily travel home with JJ, and Spencer with Elena. All they had to do was tie themselves together closely enough to move as one unit, skin to skin preferably. But Jotir was solid and athletic; he was going to be too big to travel home with either pair of adults. The only hope they had was to send him with the children, Aviv was still slight and Lillit was small for her age. They could just make it.

They had begged borrowed and flat out stolen what they needed, a roll of something like duct tape to fasten everyone together and a small shiv so Jotir could free himself upon arrival. While Bastian and Jaeg had worked on these things JJ and Elena had coached the trio in what they needed to say when they got there and Lads had painstakingly re-programmed the transmitting device, tapping micro-dots with the tip of a pin, holding it a hair off his nose to see the micro-miniature readout. In the meantime Spencer had taken his notebook to write up a report about their adventure to date. Hopefully it would help.

Now Jotir nodded. They were tucked into the back corner, where it was just their workgroup and the guards were unlucky to see. They had literally tapped Aviv and Jotir together, chest to chest, winding them tightly with the transmit device taped between them. Then the two of them picked Lillit up and held her against them both and more tape was wound around the three of them to hold them into one tight bundle. "Da' ta'n rin ka', zyenistis ha'oi va'." Ladz said.

"Do not let go, whatever you do." Elena translated. "Are you done?" She asked Spencer.

"Just." He finished the report, lifted the back of Jotir's shirt and tucked one end under his belt, taping it down to stay. "Remember, four lights. Fa'ois raekynl" He said, holding up the last piece of the package. He turned it on and tucked it deep in Jotir's pocket just as the lights out gong started to sound.

"I love you." JJ said, leaning in to kiss Lillit's cheek. "I ra'sti ha'oi. You too." She said, ruffling what was left of Aviv's hair. Jotir met her eyes then, as if to say what about me? She looked at him a long time and in the end she smiled.

The last gong sounded. "We should back up. Berg oiv." Ladz said.

They all took a few steps back from the bundle of people. "Wyen ael ka'aetk na' yevvit?" Bastian asked.

"What is going to happen?" Elena translated.

Ladz started into a long winded explanation as the gong counted down.

A moment after the last gong the lights went out.

A moment after that there was a small pop of light.

The trio was gone.

Spencer let out the breath he'd been holding.

JJ gave a strangled sound. "I can't feel her anymore." She said. She covered her face and began to cry.

"There there missus. There there." Ladz pulled her into his arms and started rocking her gently.

Spencer realized he was shaking. He pulled Elena into his arms, felt himself ground to her somehow. "I can't either." He admitted quietly. "Any of them." It was only with them gone that he realized that he ever had.

"They're going to be all right." Elena said, soothingly. "They're going to be fine."

Bastian patted his shoulder as if to say he understood, before heading off to bed.

* * *

Hotch was just getting off the phone with Beauregard when Garcia let out a scream.


	43. Chapter 43

**Chapter 43**

**Day 13**

One moment Jotir Lasan was standing in the corner of the dorm with Lord Kesstal’s remaining children literally taped to his body, his eyes glued to the alien woman he was falling for, waiting for the magic of a mad scientist to send them to safety. It was entirely unreal. Some part of him was quite certain they would tell him it was all an elaborate, cruel joke or something.

Then it went dark

A freezing cold dark

He couldn’t breathe

They were moving so fast.

A moment later they landed in a heap. “Are you all right?” He asked.

“Yes.” Aviv said.

“You’re squishing me!” Lillit protested.

“All right, all right. Hold on.” He’d taped the shiv lightly to his hand. Now he was able to work it around to start cutting them free.

“Jotir....” Aviv said, a nervous quaver in his voice.

“I know. I feel it too.” The beast. He could feel it stirring under his skin, rolling like something was calling it to the surface. “There must be a natural deposit of moonstone around here. You have to learn to control it, remember. Breathe like Bit and I taught you. In and out. In and out. As you breathe in push it back, as you breathe out separate yourself. That’s it.” He talked the boy through the exercise as he cut them free, kept his hands on him to ground him even as Lillit squirmed out of the pile. “That’s it. Can you feel it going back now?” Aviv nodded and move shakily to his feet. “Good. Now, where are we?” Out of the prison, which was the main thing, but to where? He looked around and saw that they were in the woods. But a woods like he had never seen. He pulled a leaf from a tree and looked it over. “I think it worked.”

“We’re on another planet?” Aviv asked. “Really?”

“I think so.” So what were his resources? He had to look after the children and all he had was a small, nearly useless knife. “We should find water first...”

“The lights Jotir!” Lillit said. “Remember what Spencer told you?”

“Right.” He pulled the object from his pocket. It was a rectangle of flat glass and some kind of resin, which somehow showed moving pictures across its face. Just as his Lordship had said there were more pictures now. He was careful not to touch the smooth face, only to handle it by the edges. “Only one light, we need to move. I smell water off that way, let’s go there and see. And don’t call him Spencer.”

“But he said to!”

“I don’t care. You will remember your manners please.”

“Yes, Jotir.” Lillit replied.

As they started walking Jotir contemplated the events of the past few weeks. Hell, of his life so far. Born into the Kesstal clan, he’d grown up as the companion to Lord Kesstal’s oldest son Bistesv. Bit was his best friend, they’d run many fences together over the years. But a companion or a footman or even a gamekeeper was not the life he wanted. So he’d gone in to the army not long after he had ridden the beast as part of Lord Kesstal’s hunting party, as soon as he was declared a man, back when Bit’s mother’s first late life miracle son was toddling after his older brothers, and her second miracle daughter was just a newborn.

He’d enjoyed the military, being part of the group, fighting the rebels to defend the land the King still held. Until the officers threw in with those same rebels and they started making plans to test the whole regiment. Then he’d broken ranks as they had broken loyalty. With Col. Bastian Jimaz’s understanding if not permission he’d gone home, taken over as Lord Kesstal’s house steward, now that Eldrat was getting old and they needed someone with military training on security. He’d been proud of the work and enjoyed it. His first task had been to organize the celebration for Bit’s Rite of Claiming his mate Tamaz, a beautiful, memorable day. He had done well, everything went off without a hitch and he was hooked on the job for life. He’d planned to retire out of that job when he was older than Eldrat.

But it was best not to think of such things. He doubted Lord and Lady Kesstal had survived the day the house had been invaded. By now Bit was probably dead, he would not have gone quietly. Tamaz and her baby had been sent off with her brothers to try to make it to the border; with any luck they had done so. And the men sent off with Aviv had been scattered among the workhouses to work to their deaths.   It had only been luck that the boy had landed under Col. Jimaz, only luck that he had found the best possible protector.

And then he and Lillit had been lucky as well.

Now there was this new clan, this strange alien clan from another world. Even though he barely knew the leader of it the pull of the beast within could not be denied. It told him to trust this man, that he was strong in spirit and honor, loyal and trustworthy. And besides, Lillit’s moon mother was a part of this clan; JJ’s beast was mother to Lillit’s in that way understood only by the priests. That tie was sacred. To protect the children, to carry out the last orders given to him by Lord Kesstal, to honor the man who had been like a father to him, he had to ally himself with this strange clan.

At least the ties were tight here. JJ was Lillit’s moon mother, this was known. Apparently their tradition was to name moon parents over a child at birth rather than let the beast find its way, a strange custom but not an unworkable one, and so his Lordship was JJ’s son’s moon father. And Elena, not yet claimed as his Lordship’s lady but anyone could see the tie, also had a moon mother in with their unit from the way she described it. Although as both women were adult it was more a title of honor than a true tie it was still an important relationship.

Their unit. This was what had fascinated him so. As near as he could tell his Lordship, JJ and Elena’s moon mother all served together in a unit that was not police and not military, but something in between. Had all of the members been riders of the beast he would say they were a clan for the way their lives intertwined, but they did not so this could not be said. Still, it was a curious group, and one he was glad of joining in a way. They sounded like a strong group, more than able to help him protect Lillit and shepherd Aviv the rest of the way to manhood.

And then there was JJ

He was contemplating the woman, how she might look once her markings were gone, her unique scent, how his beast responded to hers, and what the customs of marriage might be here as they approached a sparkling creek. Of course she had a husband and son, neither of whom rode the beast, which was always a tricky situation. Had they been home the answer would have been simple; he would have become her second husband if all went well, the husband to her beast as her first was husband to the rider. But who knew what they did here. “Don’t run too far!” He called after Lillit, who was scampering off the trail and into a small meadow.

“But there’s a flying thing.” She said, pointing to a fluttering thing dancing over the tips of the grasses. “It’s pretty!”

“Some hunter you will be.” Aviv teased her. “Can’t stay with the group, can’t follow orders.”

“Ahhh! I’m coming!” Lillit hurried to catch up to them.

“Let her alone.” Jotir said gently. “It’s good to be outside again. She just wants to explore.”

“I know.” Aviv turned his marked face to the sun and breathed in deep. “If only we had moon collars.”

“You’re still that eager to grow up?” A boy in a noble house marked his coming-of-age by putting on the collar and riding the beast in the Lord’s hunting party for the first time. They had been planning the rite of it for Aviv the day the house was taken. But they no longer had the sacred collars, so important for rites to mark when a child became an adult, or rites to mark or test loyalty, or so many others. They had been confiscated at best, more likely destroyed. He had thought that they would never hunt again, never rule the forest as kings, their way of life utterly destroyed even before capture. But from the way his beast kept rolling beneath his skin that might not be the case. “I bet we can find the raw materials to make new collars here.”

“Really?” Aviv grinned at that. His light was not entirely gone after all. “Elena said they have universities here. If I learn the language I can still study music.”

“Then learn the language you will.” It was that simple.

Just then a burst of sound came from his pocket.

Jotir pulled out the rectangle as the children came over to him. As his Lordship had said there was a strange, moving symbol on the front and loud, unpleasant music was coming from it. He pushed the button he’d been told to push and heard a woman’s voice say something in the alien language. He replied with the four words he’d been drilled in. There was silence and then the woman made sounds like she was asking a question. He repeated the words. She said something else and then there was silence.

“So we stay here then?” Aviv asked

“Yes. His Lordship said that once that music played and we spoke to the woman we stay close to the spot where it happened. His unit will track this here.”

“I hope they don’t make us go inside.” Lillit said. “I never want to go inside again!”

Jotir looked around at the beauty of this forest on this strange, new world. He could, he thought, he could let the beast out and run and run forever. “I hope so too.”


	44. Chapter 44

**Chapter 44**

**Day 13**

Hotch was just getting off the phone with Beauregard when Garcia let out a scream. He, Rossi and Blake turned as one and headed to her lair. "What happened?" Hotch asked.

"Reid's phone!" Garcia said. "It's back! It just popped up!"

"Same park?" Blake asked

"Close. Just the other side of the river...this is as close as I can get." She put up an area on a map. "Here." She reached over, hit speaker on her phone, and dialed Reid's number. After three rings someone answered. "Reid! Oh my god, please tell me it's you and JJ is with you and you're all right!"

There was a silence. "FBI BAU Aaron Hotchner" Said a male voice with a thick accent from some distance from the phone.

The stood in silence for a moment. "Reid?" Garcia asked eventually. "Is that you?"

"FBI BAU Aaron Hotchner" the voice repeated. Then they heard fainter voices some distance away.

"Garcia, what law enforcement is closest to that location?" Hotch asked.

"Ummm..." She typed rapidly. "It looks like West Virginia State police is about 30 minutes out."

"Get them there. Tell them to round up anyone in that area and that we're on our way. Wheels up in fifteen." He strode out of the office even as he was getting back on the phone. "McGuire, we might have a problem."

* * *

This sucked.

Ridley had been with the West Virginia State Police for ten years now. He'd been a part of the Green Ridge State Park disappearances from the beginning, given that they were right across the river. Going out again and likely finding another body did not please him. But then FBI people were missing, and cops had to look out for their own, even if they were Feds.

His partner Sloan was a rookie, fresh out of the academy, of course. "Think we're actually going to find anything out here?" He asked.

"I don't know." Ridley replied.

But when they got to the bank of the river, a healthy hike from where they had to leave the car, they actually did find someone. The man they found was dammed tall, athletic build, muscular. He had dark hair buzzed close to his head and a few days worth of beard. He looked scruffy and worn, a little on the homeless side, but his clothes were kind of weird looking. "Hey there," Sloan called out. "You see an FBI agent around here?" The man stared at them as if studying them in depth or something. It sent a shiver up Ridley's spine. "Hey!" Sloan called again. "You hear me?"

The man looked over his shoulder and babbled something not in English then he turned back to them. "FBI BAU Aaron Hotchner." He said with a thick accent.

"Huh." Sloan said, "Some kind of foreigner maybe?"

"I don't know." Ridley replied. As they watched two kids climbed up the bank of the river to join the man. The boy looked to be in his early teens, at that gangly growth stage where they're all arms and legs. Kid looked scarred up or something and as rough around the edges as the man. The little girl looked all right but her clothes were about in the same state. "FBI though."

"I wonder if those kids are with him."

"The FBI said to round up everyone. These are the only people out here." Ridley raised his voice. "You come with us. You're not under arrest; we just need to talk to you."

The little girl turned and babbled something to the man, who said something back. He turned to them and repeated once more. "FBI BAU Aaron Hotchner."

"All right, yeah," Ridley nodded. "We go to them. Come on." He motioned for them to come with them. Thankfully there were no complaints there, the trio followed along easily.

"You think they don't speak any other English?" Sloan asked.

"English!" The boy said with a thick accent and a lot of excitement. "Yes! No! Please! Thank you!" The man with him chuckled but repressed him.

"I'm going to say not enough." Ridley said.

They hiked along, pausing only for a moment when the little girl said something with a whine in it. The man shook his head and went down so the girl could climb on. She went the rest of the way piggy back.

When they got to the car they took a moment to look it over, then got in, putting the little girl in the middle. There was some discussion over the cage separating them from the front, but not much. Otherwise they rode in silence.

The station in Berkley Springs was someone's converted house. It didn't look like a station at all. Ridley led them in, and since the FBI said they wanted to talk to them not arrest them he brought them to an interrogation room. "You folks have any ID?" He asked. They looked at him blankly. "ID? Identification? Papers? Passport?" This got nothing. "You got names?" Nothing. "Okay, just wait here." He gestured for them to stay.

The man nodded. "FBI BAU Aaron Hotchner." He said again.

He stepped out of the room and called one of the plainclothes guys in. "Do me a favor, go in there and say you're Aaron Hotchner."

"Why?"

"See what happens."

The guy walked in and gestured to himself. "I'm Aaron Hotchner, how can I help you?"

The three of them looked confused. The man pointed to him. "Aaron Hotchner?"

"Yeah, that's me."

He reached in his pocket and pulled something out, holding it below the table. Both kids leaned in to look. They looked at whatever it was, back up at the cop, then at the man and shook their head. Agreement was reached, he shook his head as well. "FBI BAU Aaron Hotchner."

The cop shrugged and stepped back out. "What you were expecting?"

"I don't know what I was expecting." Ridley said.

"FBI on their way?"

"Yeah. Good thing this is their problem."

* * *

"What was that about?" Aviv asked.

"They were trying to trick us, to get information." Jotir replied. "It is a common police trick."

"Are you sure this is okay?"

Jotir sighed. Back home Riders had good reason to be afraid of the police. Everyone detained was tested as a matter of course now, and those who tested for a Rider were sent to the workhouses without recourse. But his Lordship swore that it was different here, that as long as you behaved in a quiet, respectful manner and repeated those words over and over the police would call for their unit and they would be safe. So far that was proving true, he could only hope it held. "I hope so."

"I'm hungry." Lillit said.

"You'll get used to it." Aviv replied.

"We just have to wait now." Jotir said. "Hopefully help will be here soon. His Lordship would not lead us astray."

He hoped.


	45. Chapter 45

**Chapter 45**

**Day 13**

McGuire beat them there by minutes. There was a truck with a full on military squad waiting in the parking lot behind the building, trying not to call attention to themselves. "They haven't infected anyone." She said to the team quietly when they joined her inside. "Thankfully they took my advice and fed them."

"Are you sure it's wise to keep people in the dark?" Hotch asked.

"No." McGuire replied. "We're in new territory here. I'm going to go in and see if I can get inhibitors on them. If things start going sideways evacuate the building and the surrounding area. My men outside can handle it."

"How will we know when it's going sideways?" Rossi asked.

"You'll know." She replied. "All right, no one comes in until I give the say so." She stepped into the interrogation room

The team quickly went to the booth on the other side of the mirror. There was a man slowly pacing, watching McGuire. The boy was still sitting at the table which held the tidily piled remains of a meal. The little girl had lain down across the seats and had been using the boy's thigh as a pillow. Now she sat up and rubbed her eyes. "The way he's walking suggests military to me." Rossi said. "His steps are even and his posture is very straight. Something you learn in drill."

"The children are comfortable being physical with each other, despite their difference in ages." Blake said. "It's hard to tell with the boy's injuries but they might be siblings. They're comfortable with the man but not the level of comfort you would expect from a parent. And he's just out of the range to parent the boy."

"Can you translate?" Hotch asked Blake.

"I can try." Blake replied. "I've only had a few days with it but the structure is remarkably like English."

McGuire stood by the door. She was openly nervous, but held on to her composure. "I ed e va'rna's." she said, placing a hand on her chest.

"I am a...doctor." Blake translated.

She placed the inhibitor cuffs on the table, picked one up and wrapped it around her own wrist, out where they could see. It locked closed and a small indicator light turned green. Then she removed it and held it out to him, open. "Ya'oi doiln zies nyael yisi." She said

"You must wear this here." Blake said

The man looked at her warily but held out his arm. She wrapped the cuff around his wrist and clicked it closed, turning the light to green. He looked at it a minute, then back at her, his eyes wide. His body language immediately turned negative as he clawed at it to get it off, his sudden panic palpable. She backed even closer to the door, her body language reading as fear. "Uh oh." Rossi said.

After a moment the man ripped it off his arm. He looked down at it then up at her, his own distrust and fear clear in the lines of his body. "Prieli." McGuire said.

"Please." Blake translated

The man looked from the cuff to her and back again. Then he closed it back around his wrist. The light went green and he seemed to lose focus for a moment, as if he was looking inward. Then he removed it, looked at her, and tried it again. He repeated the cycle.

"Whatever it does he wants to know that it's reversible." Rossi said. "I'm not sure he likes it."

"Prieli." McGuire said again

He considered this and the cuff, and at last nodded. He nodded to the boy, who lifted his arm for the cuff. McGuire gave a thin smile but buckled it on. Immediately the boy's eyes went wide. He spun in his chair to look at the man who shrugged. "In ra'dil a'phph." He said

"It comes off." Blake said. "At least I think that's what he said."

"Syi ael na'a' raennri." He said to McGuire, who nodded and did not put one on the girl.

"She is too...little? Young?" Blake said. "I'm not sure."

But McGuire was satisfied. "Tyetg ha'oi," she said, getting a nod from the man in return. Then she knocked on the glass, signaling that the team could join them.

Right, their turn. "They already tried sending in a decoy." Hotch said.

"Do you want me to decoy?" Rossi asked.

"Yes." Hotch said. "I want to see how they respond."

Rossi went around and opened the door to the interrogation room. "Hi." Rossi said. "I'm Aaron Hotchner with the FBI." He said, taking a seat at the table.

The man smiled patiently and shook his head. "Na'," he said. He sat at the table between the children. "FBI BAU Aaron Hotchner."

Rossi looked back at the window and shrugged.

A moment later Hotch came in. "I'm Aaron Hotchner with the FBI. Who are you?"

His appearance got everyone's attention. The boy turned and said something to the man, who squinted at Hotch and then pulled a familiar object from his pocket. He held it where the children could see, they looked at it and back at Hotch and nodded, smiles coming on their faces. The man agreed, smiled, and passed the object over to Hotch.

"Reid's?" Blake asked.

"Yes." Hotch showed him the front of the phone. Reid had replaced his screen with a picture of Hotch taken at JJ and Will's wedding.

"It's a good picture of you."

Hotch looked up, intending to ask why they wanted him, when the man reached up under the back of his shirt. He handed Hotch a notebook with some tape hanging off. Hotch opened the book and felt a long breath of relief leave his body.

"Please tell me that's what I think it is." Rossi said.

"It's a report from Reid." Hotch said. "He, JJ and our missing victim Elena Rosen are still alive."

"Elena!" Blake said with a smile. "Oh, thank heavens!"

"They have been infected and are being held in Workhouse #5." Hotch added. "This is Jotir Lasan and Aviv and Lillit Kesstal. Their father was a politician with the Royalist party; he and their mother were recently assassinated along with the rest of their family. Mr. Lasan was his head of security, charged with protecting the children. Reid said he should be considered their legal guardian and that all three will be seeking asylum."

"They were holding these children in an adult prison?" Blake asked.

"They were holding these children under hard labor for life without parole." Hotch replied, reading further. "And they were at risk of predation from the guards."

"That ought to tie enough bureaucratic knots to keep them here." Rossi said. "How are he and JJ doing?"

"It sounds like they're hanging in there." Hotch said. "Reid says the current plan is to try to bring Ms. Rosen and a Dr. Ladz Killris back when they return automatically in 77 days. He was the lead physicist on their wormhole project, and he's also been condemned."

"I think we can come up with a reason to keep him." McGuire said.

"Hopefully they won't have to wait that long though." Blake said. "Is there enough there for Morgan to find them?"

"I can call Beauregard and have him send a communication to Maddox." McGuire said. "I think any intel would be helpful at this point."

"What happens now?" Hotch asked.

"Now we have to put them in a quarantine hold." McGuire said. "We'll take them back to the medical facility."

"That sounds a lot like prison." Blake said.

"It's only for fifteen days." McGuire said. "Until we know how well they can handle our environmental conditions its better safe than sorry. I just wish some of Maddox's men were here, my language skills are not the best."

"Maybe I can help." Blake said.

"I'd appreciate that."

"Does this mean you'll be holding our people as well?" Hotch asked.

McGuire nodded. "But we do allow for visitors. After that they'll have to report in one night roughly once a month to keep the infection under control."

Anyone could see that Hotch didn't like it, but he just nodded, "All right."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting will be a bit sporadic this week-end, we have out-of-town guests.


	46. Chapter 46

**Chapter 46**

**Day 13**

As it turned out the medical facility was not on the base proper. It was located some distance away in a woodland area behind a very secure perimeter.   “They do not want people in here.” Rossi said as the followed the van containing McGuire and their three guests through the gates. “The ADX out in Florence has less security than this place.”

“I wonder what they’re hiding.” Blake said.

There was more security once they got to the parking lot. The main building was a low, long concrete structure. Extending from it on either side was more of that sturdy fencing topped with razor wire. “They don’t want whatever’s in there to get out, do they?” Rossi asked

Once inside the facility was actually pleasant, in that public building sort of way, and did not feel at all like any sort of prison, more like a medical care home. The main building held two wings of rooms around a central core that featured a combination nurse’s station and administrative offices. On the parking lot side were what looked like three ICU rooms. On the other side was a gym, a kitchen, and in the center a large common room. The common room held tables and a small buffet set up at one end, the other held the usual round of couches, chairs, a TV, video game set up, even a pool table. The furniture was of the simple, sturdy, comfortable type common to college dorms and even the dorms at Quantico.

But it was the doors on the far side that called to Jotir. As the children went to explore the pool table he went to look out the six glass doors that lined that side of the room. Just outside was a patio with tables and a BBQ set up, a small open area, and then woods. From what they could tell most of this secure area was just fenced in woodland. “Is this all empty space?” Blake asked.

“Yes.” McGuire said. “The only building out here is this one.”

“Why?”

McGuire shook her head. “I can’t say. I’m sorry.”

But she said to Jotir. He turned and pointed out to the woods. "Wyen ael nyael pha's?” He asked.

“What is this?” Blake translated.

"Hoitnaetk ksa'oitvl." McGuire said. "Ga' eyiev."

“The second phrase was go ahead.” Blake said. “I don’t know the first phrase.”

Whatever McGuire said Jotir seemed to like it. He opened the doors wide and stepped out onto the patio, taking a deep breath of the fresh air. He was clearly pleased with whatever he was finding out there. "Mehmi zyit nyi ryaervsit lriiv." He said. Then he rubbed at that cuff like it itched.

“Something about the children sleeping,” Blake said. “Maybe after they sleep?”

McGuire nodded, “Speaking of sleeping. Lin di lya'z ha'oi zyisi na' lriiv." She gestured for the trio to follow her. Jotir called to the children and they all trooped after her to the east wing. “Maddox and his men have the west wing.” She said.

“This is their regular barracks?” Hotch asked.

“It’s safer that way. We’ve found that people with the infection tend to rest and sleep better when they’re in close proximity to each other, and not around those not infected. I don’t know how that’s going to affect your agent’s living arrangements. That’s something we’ll have to look at going forward. We set up two rooms down here for them, but there are four more available. We’ll just need to make up the beds.”

The rooms were similar to college dorms rooms, or the dorm rooms at Quantico, comfortably large and airy with two beds, desks, dressers and closets to a room. It looked like they had brought in a third bunk when they heard there was a child coming, Lillit immediately scrambled up to the top bunk on that side. Jotir looked it over, checked out the bathroom, ran the hot water and gave McGuire a satisfied nod and smile. "Wyen va' ha'oi tiiv pha's yisi?" McGuire asked.

"What do you need for here?" Blake translated.

Jotir looked surprised at the question. "Daettis." He said. "Criet rra'nyil. Gedil pha's nyi ryaervsit." He considered.   "A sepa's."

“I don’t know most of that.” Blake admitted.

“Dinner. Clean clothes. Games for the children.” McGuire didn’t know one of those either. “A sepa’s?” she asked him. In reply he scratched at the stubble on his face. “I’m guessing a razor. I’ll send someone to the PX, see what we can do.” Just then one of the staff brought her a note. “It looks like Beauregard was able to get through to Maddox and Agent Morgan. With this new intel they said they ought to be able to make contact within 36 to 48 hours and if all goes well will have your people back in 72.”

Everyone on the team let out a sigh of relief. “Seventy-two hours is a lot better than seventy seven days.” Rossi said.

In the meantime McGuire translated this as best she could for Jotir and the children. This news brought smiles. "I ed ra'a'gaetk pha'szesv na' yael La'svlyaev'l sinoist." Jotir said

McGuire’s jaw dropped at this. “What is it?” Hotch asked.

“Um, I’m not sure.” She said. “We’ll have to see when they get here.   Agent Blake, can you stay to help with translation?”

“I’d love to.” She replied.

“Watch your back.” Rossi said to her before they left.

She smiled at him, “Right.”

 


	47. Chapter 47

**Chapter 47**

**Day 13**

Blake’s first problem was both linguistic and cultural. How do you buy toys for children when you don’t speak the language and know nothing about the culture?

From what they could communicate there had been a time shift from where they were in the day when they left to where they were now. On the planet where they had been it was bedtime, but then they landed here fairly early in the morning. This was contributing to the kind of jet lag that could make younger ones cranky. Granted neither Aviv nor Lillit seemed the kind to let cranky show, but Jotir seemed to want to manage such behavior before it started.

To that end he sat them down to eat in the break room. McGuire said the kitchen there was tailored to meet the needs of those infected. “How so?” Blake asked.

“Most adults need 0.8 grams of protein per kilo per day.” She explained. “Athletes and soldiers in the field or in hard training need up to 1.6 grams of protein per kilo per day, double the average. Those who are infected need a minimum of 2 grams per kilo per day, and then those who are athletic double the average. Preferably in lean animal protein.”

Blake blinked and tried to do the math in her head. “How much does that...”

“Depending on size and athleticism? Up to fifteen pounds of meat a day. Yeah.” McGuire nodded as Blake’s jaw dropped. “Thankfully your people won’t need that much. They ought to only need about five pounds a day.”

“Five pounds of meat a day?” Blake was shocked.

“More or less, they’ll be able to get some from other foods and perhaps supplements as well. Don’t worry, I’m working on a nutrition plan they’ll be able to take in the field, and given the abilities they’ll be bringing to the table we ought to be able to help with a stipend to cover it. The children are still small, of course. I figure Lillit for one and Aviv for one and a half a day, in addition to other sources, milk, eggs, that sort of thing.”

“How big are they going to get?”

“Not that big, we’re not certain where it all goes. I do know muscle density goes up considerably. In addition among the other senses the sense of taste is sharpened, we use all fresh foods here, no processed foods. Which is very different from the usual chow hall.”

“Holy crows.” Blake was floored. But she was not at all surprised, then, to see Jotir and the kids savoring their first ever hamburgers. Or to see Jotir have three of them.

After lunch it was baths. Yes, watching Jotir help Lillit with her hair afterward was more than a little adorable. Once it was properly braided and Aviv was out he settled them both into naps then went to clean up himself. “While they’re out I’m going to go see about toys or games. What should I bring them?”

“That’s a good question.” McGuire replied. “They’re from a noble family; they raise their families differently from the rest of the population from what we’ve been able to tell. But we don’t have much on the subject. The one thing we do know is that they don’t expose their children to a lot of wild or unnatural colors.”

“So her clothing’s not just dirty, they chose those colors?” Lillit had been wearing a lichen green sweater and sturdy grey trousers over a once white shirt.

“Very likely.”

“Why? That seems cruel.” Blake said

“Like the others Lillit was born infected. At the current time she’s little more than a carrier, the prions don’t start to change the brain and body until puberty, we don’t know why. But once they do the subject develops color blindness. They consider it cruel to give a child something that will only be taken away later. But at the same time they encourage them to use the senses that will sharpen later, to help them learn to rely on them. Scent and hearing especially.”

“That is going to make this tricker than I thought. I’ll come up with something though.”

For this first day Blake decided to keep it simple. She returned with tins of drawing pencils and pads of paper. You couldn’t go wrong with drawing, right? And a teddy bear, surely that was all right. But when Jotir saw them he asked, was told that Earthling children liked to cuddle with them, thanked her politely and left it at the nurses’ station. Apparently Voirret noble children did not cuddle with toys either.

Blake was glad the toy store had an online catalog.

Now it was later in the day. She’s tucked her faithful voice recorder in her pocket in the hopes of capturing more of their language. The children, freshly dressed in soft pants and t-shirts from the PX, were in the day room happily drawing. Jotir was looking through that catalog with interest, his primary focus on his charges. And the cooks in the kitchen next door were preparing a roast chicken dinner that smelled mouthwatering.

Blake wandered over, hoping to engage the children in some kind of conversation. She peeped at what Aviv was working on first. He’d drawn an instrument of some kind. “What is that? Wyen ael nyen?” He opened his mouth to name it, wrinkled his nose, and held his arms like he was sawing on a violin. Oh hello. Blake pulled out her tablet and found the Wikipedia entry for violins. “Like this? Laegi nyael” They had a sample of Paganini on the page which she played and got his rapt attention.

“Ta'a' yaeky.” Jotir said, holding his hand up high.

Ta'a' yaeky. Too high she thought. Blake tried the entry on viola. Yep, that did it. Aviv was beaming with longing and hope.   He asked Jotir to come look, which he did and encouraged. Right, that was taken care of there.

While the two looked over the pictures and music she turned her attention to Lillit. Hopefully a child’s vocabulary would be easier to learn from. She reached in her pocket and flicked on her sturdy old voice recorder to get some notes going. “What are you drawing?” She asked, using infliction and gestures to communicate.

Lillit got the hint. “Peve, Mede, Bit, Tamaz.”

“Wya’ ael Bit? Who is Bit?”

“Mh msa'nyis.” Lillit replied, not quite ready to share the pictures yet.

“Your brother. Big brother? Big msa'nyis?” She held up her hand and Lillit nodded. “Ahhh, I see. Wya’ ael Tamaz? Who is Tamaz?”

“Hael deni.”

Blake didn’t know that one. She looked over at McGuire. “That usually refers to a spouse. His wife perhaps.”

“Ohh, okay. His deni.” Blake nodded as Lillit gave a firm nod and a grin. “May I look?” She indicated that she wanted to peep at the pictures. After a long moment Lillit smiled and shared.

She’d drawn monsters.

They gave the sense of size. Massive, powerful bodies packed with muscle, covered with what had to be fur. Long back legs like those of a canine. Long front legs with hands instead of paws, complete with claws on the fingers. Pointed muzzles with rows of sharp teeth and pointed ears and remarkably human eyes over them. “Why did you draw these?” Blake asked. It was disturbing. Drawing caregivers as monsters was the sort of thing you’d see in a horribly abused child, but Lillit was giving no other sign of that. But these were monsters. Remarkably detailed to make up for the lack of color perhaps. But monsters.

Lillit just smiled at her. “Peve” She said, pointing to one that looked older and battered.   “Mede” She pointed to one that looked decidedly female and that was looking intently over a cliff. “Bit” referred to one that looked notably angry, like it had a short temper. “Tamaz” actually looked gentle, even sweet for a monster. She was admiring a flower. Lillit pointed to another, this one that looked highly intelligent and coldly calculating. “Jotir.” She said.

As Blake tried to comprehend this Aviv reached over her, snatched the picture up and held it where Jotir could see. “In'l e ka'a'v raegitill a'ph ha'oi.” He said.

Jotir looked it over and nodded. "In ael. Ya'oi'si kinnaetk joiaeni ka'a'v en vsezaetk." Lillit beamed at that.

Then she picked up one more. This beast did not look ferocious at all. In fact it appeared to have a claw up its nose. “Aviv” She said.

“Ayyyyy!” Aviv protested as she broke out in a fit of giggles. He poked her in the side, she tried to return the tickle, this resulted in a merry chase around the room that quickly found the couch pillows for weapons and resulted in Jotir having to break it up.

In the meantime Blake turned to McGuire. “Do you know anything about this?”

McGuire looked at the pictures and blanked. “No, not at all. I think it’s time for supper, we should clean off the table.”

Lousy liar, Blake thought. She wanted to ask Jotir but she did not know nearly enough of their language yet. She’d have to compose her questions over night.

Dinner happened easily enough. Jotir looked to be managing table manners somehow but she couldn’t make out the patterns. By the time it was finished Lillit at least was yawning again. Jotir took them both down to tuck them into bed. He came back out as Blake was packing up. "Ya'oi leaev nya'li zisi yoitnaetk ksa'oitvl." He said to McGuire, nodding to the woods outside the common room doors. "I zaely na' yoitn na'taekyn. Il nyisi a'ti zya' ra'oirv ennitv di?"

“Yill.” She said nodding to him. She turned to Blake. “I’m afraid we have to put the facility in lockdown mode. Essential personnel only.”

“All right. I’ll be back in the morning. Ga'a'v taekyn. Good night.” She bid her farewell to Jotir and made her way out to the parking lot.

When she reached her car she settled in and locked and slumped there for a moment. She was not happy with McGuire’s evasions. At this point in the process they ought to have full disclosure. Why was Lillit and her family so happily drawing each other as monsters? It made no sense. She looked around for a tablet for her notes but she’d put her briefcase in the back. Fine, she pulled out her voice recorder. “Notes for case number 2741-...”

An earsplitting, unearthly howl crashed across the parking lot.

Adrenalin pumping Blake sat up and put a hand on her gun, looking wildly around for the source of that vicious cry. She didn’t see anything, there didn’t seem to be a source. Nothing looked to be charging or even looking at the car.

Then she saw that the people in the facility had lowered thick steel shutters over the windows and doors.

“What are they keeping in here?”

Blake vowed to find out more tomorrow. For tonight she was getting the hell out of there.

 


	48. Chapter 48

**Chapter 48**

**Day 14**

_"Find me." She said._

_"I can't."_

_"Come to me. I miss you."_

_"You belong to another."_

_"But she wants to be yours."_

_"I know."_

_"Find me, please."_

_He looked into soft, gentle eyes the shade of the sky and brushed hair the color of grass before the autumn rains back from her delicate face. "You have to come to me."_

* * *

 

What sounded like a small heard of resaema'oi woke Jotir from his deep and peaceful post-hunt slumber.

He opened his eyes slowly against the late morning sun. He was in his bed, thankfully. Naked, but that was to be expected. And his face itched. He smiled as he remembered the hunt the night before. The forests in this place were grand and filled with game; his Lordship had not led them wrong. Now hopefully the cooks in this strange manor house knew how to properly prepare the remains of the hunt he had dragged back.

He had just enough time to think these thoughts and make sure the blankets were tucked tight around him for modesty before his door flung open and he was attacked by a familiar small shape. "Jotir! Jotir!" Lillit cried. "Elena's moon mother is back and she brought all sort of things!"

"Ohhhh, did she?" Hopefully his explanation of what was proper for children of noble families had sunk in yesterday. It was hard to communicate when you did not share a language. "And what did she bring you?"

"A skip rope!" Lillit said, holding it up to be seen. Ahh, this was a real prize. Not a usual toy for a noble child but not discouraged either. "And soft doll to cuddle at night and a balance line and some puzzles and all sorts of things. But that's not the best, show him Aviv!"

Aviv had followed his sister at a more sedate pace. Now he looked at Jotir and his eyes went wide. "You hunted last night!" He said.

Jotir grinned. "Yes, I did. The woods here are fine for hunting and full of game. We'll have a proper meal this night."

"Why didn't you take me?"

"His Lordship should attend your first hunt. It would disrespect both of you otherwise." As Jotir watched Aviv sagged and sorrow shadowed his eyes. He sat on the edge of the bed with a sigh. "What is it?"

"My father should attend my first hunt. He said I would wear his collar for it."

Damn. He put a hand on the lad's shoulder. "He will be with us in spirit. And I know he would be proud of the strength you have shown through all of this."

Aviv nodded and took a deep breath. "I know." He said. "It's hard."

"It is."

"How did you hunt without a collar?"

Jotir held up his arm and looked at the black and metal band that the attendants must have replaced last night. "You don't need one to hunt here. That's why they insist upon these things, it's so easy to hunt most would need help to control the beast."

"Ohhh."

"You should keep yours on at all times unless out on a hunt."

"All right."

"Which we will do soon. Then you too will wear your hair as a Rider and your face will be pretty once more. The better to meet the young women of this world, yes?" No reaction, interesting. "Or the young men." Ahhh, that was the way the wind blew. And that blush said that his mind was off his grief, at least for now.

By now Lillit was squirming impatience. "Aviv! Show him what Dr. Blake brought you!"

Jotir looked over as Aviv carefully laid his prize on his bunk and opened the case. Out came something of unusual shape and color but the use of it was clear. "A staea'raet?"

"Very like." Aviv replied. He held up and drew a few hauntingly sweet notes from the instrument. "The sound is different but very slightly so. I'll be able to play anything I want on this."

"Write down the notation for every song you know, right off." Jotir said. "That way you will never forget the music of home."

Aviv sobered for a moment. "I will. I will start today."

"Good." All of a sudden Lillit started to giggle as his stomach rumbled audibly. "Now shoo so I can dress and break my fast, both of you." They both laughed and left.

A few moments later he was walking down the hall to the great room, following his nose to what smelled like cooking meat. This was a very strange manor house indeed. They knew some customs, the attendants had put him properly away last night, and were very kind to him and the children but then this morning they did not bring a tray to break his fast. As a known Rider someone from the kitchen ought to have brought him a day-old roll to soothe the beast if nothing else. But no, that did not happen. Given that his Lordship seemed to have just formed his clan before they left he could only assume that this was a manor house of a friend of his unit chief's, not his Lordship's, and that his Lordship would be setting one up when he arrived in time. Once he did should his Lordship see fit to assign him the job of House Steward these mistakes would not be made. He believed in doing things properly, with the discipline the Colonel had taught him. Given the mistake that had been made everyone ought to understand him coming to table before shaving off the hair that had come in from the hunt.

He found Dr. Blake in the main hall, by the odd collection of machines and such, speaking to the Doctor who appeared to act as Steward here. Well, talking was not the word for it. The two of them seemed to be having some sort of argument. He briefly debated going back to their quarters, but his stomach rumbled again. It would not do to have the beast feel too much hunger so soon after a hunt. It would annoy it and an annoyed beast was harder to ride. No, better to make his presence known. "Good morning."

"Good morning." Dr. McGuire said politely. Dr. Blake turned and her eyes went wide. "Did you ...bring back...that..." She used a word he did not know. "... last...night?"

"The viis? Yes, meat for the house. I know it's not much but one can only take so much in a night." He spoke slowly and carefully in the hopes that she might catch enough of the words to understand.

"Oh, there is more than enough there for suppers for days. We are grateful." Dr. Blake said something to her in their language, to which she replied, but from the look in her eyes Dr. Blake still did not understand the answer. She went back to staring at him with a slack jaw.

"It was the least I could do for your hospitality." His stomach rumbled. "If you will excuse me..."

"Of course."

But Dr. Blake came with him. As he watched she pulled some books from her bag and a sheet of paper and began reading. "Last...night...you...said...you...were..."

He stopped her. Yesterday they had been communicating in gestures and with pointing at pictures and short two or three word sentences. Now he looked over her shoulder. She had written a handful of questions down, in their language, his language and what he assumed were notes on how to pronounce the words. She almost had most of them. Almost. He eased the battered book from her hand and found what he had hoped for, a dictionary of their words and his. Perfect.

He led her to a table, took the paper from her and started writing answers to the questions.

_Last night you said you were going to hunt. What did you mean?_

_I meant going out to catch game and bring home meat to feed the house. It is polite to take the risk and do the labor in exchange for hospitality._

_Why did you need someone to attend you?_

_I am not strong enough to attend to myself after a hunt._

_Why did you choose those toys for the children?_

_The toys you indicated are proper for townsman children, who learn to remain indoors and in towns and cities and to be fearful of the forest and countryside. Aviv and Lillit are nobleman's children; they must learn the ways of the woods and country if they are to be the masters of them._

_You said the picture Lillit drew was a good likeness. Why?_

_It is a good picture of the beast I ride._

That done he went to the serving bar and gathered his food while she translated. He noted that Aviv and Lillit had minded their manners and while their plates showed crumbs of the quite good pastry they had not looked to have touched the meat before his arrival. He brought his own plate back and nodded to them. "Go ahead." They immediately went over to fill their plates and come back for a proper meal.

The meal was full of their chatter about going to the forest to play after, since there were no threats out there for them, and what they hoped to see and planned to do. He listened and made the noises to keep them going. Eventually thoughts of what had happened, of the loss of their family and home and of their time in the workhouse would return to them and they would have to be eased through the grief, but he would rather they sit with those thoughts in a stable home, so for now the distraction was a good one. He was trying not to think of it himself, or of the dreams he'd had the night before.

By the time he was finished Dr. Blake had more questions. He dismissed the children from the table so they could run and looked over the paper before him.

_How did your hair and beard grow so quickly?_

_It happens when one rides the beast. Hair worn long is the mark of the rider._

_Why did the children say they had to wait for you for breakfast?_

_Only meat, birds or eggs. When the day begins the first meat is eaten by the Lord of the Clan, then by his senior riders and so on down the ranks to the children before the non-riders of the house. When his Lordship arrives he will go first by right._

_The beast you ride, what does that mean?_

_The beast that is within me. The beast I was born to ride. I am its master. Last night we hunted together._

He answered her questions then went off to bathe and shave. All that hot water was a wonderful thing.

He returned some time later with his hair properly tied back as befitted a rider not of the highest rank. It was good to have it back, while he had done so willingly, shaving off his hair had been a humiliating thing. Granted he didn't have a proper tie but this rubba ban thing did the job reasonably well.

Of course there were more questions.

_The beast within you. What does that mean?_

_There is no better way to explain this._

_Do the children have a beast within them?_

_Yes, they are the children of a noble clan. The beast will grow with them until they are man and woman and then it will emerge. Aviv will make his first ride as soon as his Lordship says he might. Lillit has a few years to grow still._

_Who is his Lordship?_

_You call him Spencer._

The last was hard to write but he managed.

"Jotir!" Lillit called to him. "Walk the forest with me? Aviv wants to play his music."

"All right little miss." Jotir bowed his leave of Dr. Blake and went outside to join the children.


	49. Chapter 49

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 4 - Crisis
> 
> When written in Chinese, the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.  
> \- John F. Kennedy

**Chapter 49**

**Day 14**

The end of another long work day. “I just want to go to bed.” JJ said, her face marked with more weariness than usual as they shuffled through the passage back to the dorm.

“You didn’t sleep well last night, did you?” Spencer asked. He’d heard or sensed her tossing and turning in the bunk above them.

“No. I kept dreaming.”

“Lillit?”

“Jotir.” JJ managed a smile with no humor, “Because things weren’t complicated enough.”

“Great.”

While they had been talking Elena had been speaking to others as some word of something was passed around. Now she turned to them. “We get showers tonight.” She told them

“Yay.” JJ said, with at least a little enthusiasm. “At least I can get my head clean.”

Now it was Elena’s turn to smile without cheer. “Don’t get overly excited.”

“Oh?”

As it turned out the showers were much like the toilet room. Pipes came out of the wall with no shower heads on them, pouring out a constant flow of tepid water that smelled of the factory next door. Each stall consisted of a half height partition with a bar of hard, cheap soap on top. And that was it; there was no other provision for any form of privacy. You stripped in the middle of the room, left your clothes in a pile on the concrete floor, and climbed in. Elena sighed and started taking her clothes off. “I just hope the guards don’t come through.”

“Looking for new victims?” JJ asked before she sighed and started in herself.

“Yeah. What better time, right?”

“Of course.” JJ looked over at Spencer, “Eyes above the neck?”

“Yes.” He looked over at Elena and smiled, “For both of you.” Elena looked surprised at that. He leaned in closer and lowered his voice, “Until we’re home safe.” It wouldn’t be right at all to bring those feelings to this place as strong as they were now.

She blushed and smiled, “All right.”

Less than one minute later that rule was broken. “Spence!” JJ said, looking him over.

Thankfully his pants were only down as far as his hips. “Above the neck?” Hello!

“Not that! Since when are you built like Morgan? Have you been holding out on us?”

Built like Morgan? Not even close, right? Not that he was flabby but he’d always been on the softer side of scrawny, no muscle mass to speak of. Except now he looked down and found he had an actual six pack down there, and that v-shaped line angling in to his pants that Garcia spoke so highly of when it came to men’s bodies. “Um, this is new.”

“Do not complain.” JJ told him before she looked away.

“I’m not looking.” Elena told him. “Not here.”

“Trust me.” JJ said.

Bastian came around to them as he made the rounds of his people. "Mit a't nyi a'oinlaevi, za'dit a't nyi aetlaevi." He said.

“Women on the inside, men on the outside,” Elena said, “More or less.”

More or less didn’t apply to their little group. He and Ladz took the outside and kept their eyes on the wall above everyone’s head. Elena and JJ took the inside, facing away and stepping closer to the wall when it was their turn to step out from under the water and soap up. In theory this was safer.

But when a phalanx of guards armed with what might be machine guns entered they were reminded of just how unsafe this place was. Being caught naked and wet added humiliation and vulnerability to the sudden strong smell of fear in the room. Fear or, in some cases, anger. Spencer leaned toward anger, was this display really necessary? Did they honestly think it would help increase production or whatever they valued here?

“Spence?” JJ asked, a hint of nervous fear in her voice.

“They’re just trying to intimidate.” They didn’t have the body language of attack. This was a formal group here to make a showing. “Ignore them.”

But they weren’t just there to make a showing. Once they were in position, another walked in. Spencer had only seen this uniform, this patrician profile from a distance, but the oozing confidence was clear. Odot strode in like he owned the place, slowly looking over the amassed prisoners until he found the one he wanted.   He stopped at the stall next to theirs and gestured for Kaeg to move out of the way. Kaeg bared his teeth in reply and gave this ugly, inhuman growl that earned him a gun barrel under the chin. Not good. Spencer reached over and took him by the shoulder to get him to back down even as Bastian moved to take his other arm. He could feel the desire to attack raging through the other man’s body. But that pull back was enough to get the guard to partially back down as well.

Unfortunately that pull back also exposed Adrianna to Odot’s gaze. She faced away as he looked her over, but even her tentative look over her shoulder was enough to show the damage done to her once elegant body, her once beautiful face. But Odot didn’t seem put off in the slightest. He looked her over like one might evaluate a horse in a barn, stripping away all her dignity in a glance. Then he looked over at Bastian, met his eyes, and smirked.

And slowly started clapping.

Odot slowly clapped as he walked out of the room. As he left he gestured and the guards followed, leaving them all alone.

As Adrianna burst into tears JJ looked over her shoulder at Spencer, “Intimidation successful.”

 


	50. Chapter 50

**Chapter 50**

**Day 15**

Morgan couldn’t decide if he wanted Hotch’s intel to be accurate or not.

Workhouse 5 was on the other side of the nearby mountain range from the rebel camp, over on a hot, dry plateau. Because it was so far away from anywhere finding them then coming back to raid was out of the question. They packed along a couple of Maddox’s men and would have to do it all in one trip, setting it up on the fly. Not anyone’s first choice of how to handle it. On the other hand, if they were here then they’d be on their way back to the transport device tonight and safely home by tomorrow. That was the part he was hoping for.

The visit started the same as the others. Maddox had chosen men who spoke the local language well enough to pass for an accent or something so their guide had lots of distractions. They got a tour of the building, the usual dining hall of nightmare fuel and what all have you. But then they were taken to a new sort of thing. It looked for all the world like slightly steampunk MMA fighting octagon, only with full on iron bars around the center cage. “What do they have fighting in there?” Morgan quietly asked Maddox. “Bears?”

Maddox had a dark look in his eyes, and his men looked outright pissed. “No.” He said.

Right, sore spot. He wasn’t here to get involved in Maddox’s issues. Morgan shut his mouth and went back to keeping his eyes open. But as they walked out of the room he couldn’t help but notice that the tension was thicker, thick enough to cut. “What?” He asked.

“They’re having a fight tonight.” Maddox said. “We’re invited.”

“Great.”

After the tour of the guard’s facility they moved on to a tour of the factory. Open pit mines are oh so fascinating, as are ore crushers and the various ways they moved rocks around the place. It wasn’t until they got inside the boiling plant that things started getting to work as torture once more. He felt like a turkey around three on Thanksgiving, the constant rattle of rocks made his head ring and the dust and stink were so bad even his nose was burning.

He was trailing the group, trying to look at every prisoner in there. They were all over in this place, moving rock, tending to the equipment, stirring the big boiling pots, and in and around all of them were people carrying jugs of water, the only comfort in this place. Morgan was trying to take it all in when one of the women carrying water pushed right past him. “On your seven Agent,” she said in clear, unaccented English.

Huh?

Morgan’s head whipped around to about 7 on the clock where he spotted the most heavenly sight. A familiar tall, slender form pushing a big stick around a bigger pot. Reid smiled in a way that told Morgan that he had just tested what he was seeing and had passed.

Maddox caught him by the elbow. “Approach him like you were trying to talk him into bed.”

“What?”

“It’s common here, a good excuse for a guard to be seen talking to a prisoner.”

Yeah, but he didn’t...and Reid didn’t...right. He took a deep breath and moved over like he was picking up a hunny in a bar. “What the hell happened?” Morgan said. “Please tell me JJ is here.”

In reply Reid nodded in the direction of where people were filling water jugs. Morgan looked and spotted a familiar figure with the same injuries. “It lowers our victim profile.” Reid said. “The guards are predatory. How the hell did you get here? Did the kids make it?”

“Yes, they did. The DOD was holding out on us, they have a transport device. We want to move you right after lights out, still looking at four going back with us?”

“Yeah, and two more to get out of here I think. I’ll have to confirm.”

“Can you do that by tonight?”

“I can before you leave this hall if we do it right.” Reid looked around the room. He must have met someone’s eyes because he looked away like he was embarrassed or ashamed.   “Good cover.”

“Glad it’s working, pretty boy. How do I find you?”

“We’re in the last bunk of the furthest left column off the main entrance in the upstairs dorms. Come find us, we’ll all be there.”

“Got it.”

“All right, I’m going to push you away like you said something offensive. Get the muzzle of your weapon on me then expect the big bald guy over there to come try to break it up. Before you walk out look back and I’ll let you know how many. Got it?”

“Yeah.”

Reid finally met his eyes then. “Thank you.” He said with a lot behind it.

“Let’s just get home. Ready?”

“Yeah.”

A moment later Reid gave his shoulder a healthy shove as he stepped back, a look of revulsion on his face. Morgan stepped in like he was offended and screwed the muzzle of his rifle up under Reid’s chin. “How the fuck dare you...”

“Ayyyy!” Sure enough Baldy came over. He had the combination of cold eyes and obsequious behavior that Morgan had seen on a hundred thugs back in Chicago, every time they had to talk to the cops. Hell he’d Uncle Tommed to Gordinski more times than he could count back in the day. "Wyen ael zsa'tk a'phphaeris? Wyenistis aen ael nyael a'ti vaev ta'n diet aen. Hi ael laergis nyet da'ln, aen evvril nyi mseaet. Soisirh I ret mi a'ph lisstaeri, zyen ret I va'?"

Maddox joined them then and the other guards and a couple of other big guys on the prisoner’s side and a small disagreement was briefly had. It seemed to end with them being shooed back to work and the locals chuckling over a newbie trying to make time with one of the sicker ones. “He said the ones that sick will make your cock rot off.” Maddox told him.

“I’ll remember that.” As they climbed the stairs to the catwalk to get out of here Morgan looked back. Baldy wasn’t Uncle Tomming it any more. That man was a hard-assed soldier, as cold and calculating as Hotch on a good day. The little water bearer was there as well. Reid met his eyes and held up six fingers. “We’re good to go with six tonight.”

“Six?”

“Four to return.”

“We can leave the other two with Xetvis then. There’s a large za’rph group there, they’ll be safe.” Maddox nodded. “Right, let’s get this done and get home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we are in part four at this point. I attached the quote to chapter 49. Sorry about that.


	51. Chapter 51

**Chapter 51**

**Day 15**

To say that they were excited was to understate the situation.

At the end of the day the group leaving stopped to wipe off the dust for the last time, then went and put on the best, sturdiest clothing they could find. Elena looked to be in shock still, Ladz was all but bouncing up and down like a child, Adriana looked doubtful, and Kaeg was deep in discussion with Bastian about what to do once they were out of there. The loose plan was to get out of the prison however Morgan had planned, drop Adriana and Kaeg along the way, and then get the remaining four home.

"Is this really happening?" Elena asked for the tenth time.

"Yes. If it can be done Morgan will." Spencer pulled her close again as their porridge bowls were passed. "By tomorrow night we'll be at the Hay-Adams."

She returned a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "I told you we don't need to do anything fancy."

"Someplace with a hot shower then?" He felt her shudder with delight at the thought.

Ladz was entertaining his empty pipe once again, chuckling to himself as he sat with JJ. "You sound happy." She said.

"I am Missus, I am! A whole new planet to explore, new minds to discuss, why should I not be happy?"

"You may never come back here."

Something soft and wise entered his smile. "Here does not want me."

Just then the whistle sounded for a selection. "Perfect timing," JJ muttered as they headed to the center of the room.

As they all assembled Spencer looked up at the catwalk. It certainly seemed like there were a lot of guards up there, more than usual. But one of them was a familiar, reassuring face; at least someone had their back.

Then he heard a sound he did not like, and he could tell that the familiar face didn't like it either.

The sound of those two big machine guns being racked.

"That's new." Elena murmured.

As they watched a number of the guards came down and took up positions along the walkway to keep the prisoners from stepping out into it. From what Spencer could tell of the pattern they seemed to be concentrating on the za'rph side of things, which meant he was not surprised when Odot came down and walked over to Bastian. Elena leaned in to murmur translation.

_"I have to admit I am impressed."_

Bastian spread his arms and shrugged _. "I can't imagine what I may have done to impress you, Chief. I'm just a simple working man."_

Odot smiled thinly, " _Now, now Colonel. We both know better."_

Bastian gave up the obsequious act then. " _What do you want?"_

_"I want you and your people to pay their due to society. To pay for the generosity we have shown in not exterminating you vermin outright."_

Bastian chuckled. " _Paying for you generosity. That's one way to put it."_

 _"There are not many who would injure their own people to keep them from paying their dues. I am impressed that you convinced them to go through with it, it shows remarkable leadership. Unfortunately your leadership days are behind you, they have been for some time. Now you will pay for forgetting your place with one of your kittah. We shall let them decide which_." Odot lifted a hand as he turned sending one group of guards pushing until they could drag Adriana away.

And then another came and grabbed JJ.

"Spence!" She cried out as she tried to fight them.

The last thing Spencer knew was his vision turning red.

* * *

Morgan caught all of this from his spot on the catwalk as Maddox quietly translated. They had spent the time between contacting Reid and now snooping around and getting all the gate and lock codes they could. The plan had been a simple one, wait for lights out when the majority of guards went to dinner, then collect their people and sneak out. Now he watched as they dragged JJ and another woman off into the building. And he watched as Spencer Reid let out a roar that almost sounded inhuman and tried to launch himself at a group of armed guards. It seemed like it took six big guys to hold him back. "That new attachment?"

"Yeah," Maddox said. His eyes tracked where they were taking JJ and the other woman.

"What do you think's going down?"

"From what Odot was saying? I'm thinking the fight tonight."

"Does he really think those two will fight it out? I mean JJ's got the moves but she won't fight the other one."

"It's an infected thing." He looked up as a gong started. "We stick to the original plan, go by the fighting ring to collect those two after we get the others. You ready?"

"Oh yeah."


	52. Chapter 52

**Chapter 52**

**Day 15**

As soon as the lights went out Morgan and Maddox headed down into the dorm and along the side wall to the meet up point. There they found Reid and the others. He was pacing like a caged animal. “We know where they took JJ and the other woman. You ready?”

In the faint light Morgan could see Reid eyeing the rifle in his hands. “Is that the only weapon you brought?” In reply he handed off a very familiar revolver.    Reid’s grin was a lot colder than it ought to be. “Now I’m ready.”

They said good-byes to what Maddox had called their workgroup leader and headed out through three locked gates and down a handful of hallways, all thankfully empty. The whole time Maddox covered the rear with Reid, talking very quietly and very fast. When they reached the crossroads Reid looked like he’d been smacked upside the head a few dozen times or so. “We need to split up.” Maddox said. “We sound like a herd of elephants. Who are we splitting off?”

That was easy. Morgan looked the group over. “Why don’t...” But Maddox was giving him the sign to shut up.

“Elena, Ladz, you go with Johnson and Vasquez.” Reid said, taking charge in a way Morgan had never seen before. “They’ll help you hide in the back of the transport.” He collected a kiss from the girl before they headed out.

“This guy needs to go with them.” Morgan said, ignoring the signs Maddox was giving him. The three of them could handle it; they did not need some wild card along.

He sure as hell did not expect the reaction he got. “Morgan, I know this is a new thing and we’re going to have to work out all of the ramifications moving forward.” Reid said quietly. “But don’t tell me what to do with my people.”

“Your people?” But Reid was already moving down the corridor after Maddox, the other guy close behind. Nothing he could do but follow.

They got to the fight room just as the guard there was going down, thanks to Maddox.   “Jesus.” Reid said as he stepped in the room, his eyes suddenly going wide. The man beside him was just as shocked.

“What?” Morgan asked.

“Shifting devices,” Maddox said. “You can feel them when you get close. It’s...not comfortable. Come on.” They headed down the steps to the center ring, “Oh hell.”

Morgan was right behind him. JJ and the other woman were each kneeling on a platform, little more than a stool. Their hands were bound to their ankles behind them. They each had something snug around their necks, something that was attached to cords running to the ceiling. If they fell...

“Morgan.” Maddox said. “You have any experience with explosives?”

“Yeah, two years bomb squad. Why?”

“Those are shifting devices around their necks and they are unlocked. If the metal covers lift it’s going to be very bad. You’re the only one who can safely touch them; you need to get them off without moving the covers.”

“Great.” Because he wanted to do something that sounded a lot like defusing a bomb in the middle of a prison break. But there was no help for it, he stepped into the cave and took the civilian first. “You good there momma?”

“I can feel it.” JJ said quietly.

“Just hang in there.” The other woman was crying softly. Morgan looked over the collar around her neck. It was a complicated sort of clasp, but not impossible. He saw what Maddox meant by a cover, there was a round metal thing on the side of the collar; the cords from the ceiling were attached. Someone standing outside the ring could lift the metal out of the way, exposing the wearer to whatever was inside. He had to get this off very carefully, not move it in any way that pulled on those cords....

While he worked OtherGuy stood outside and spoke to OtherGirl, reassuring her and keeping her from moving.  Ahhh, that's why Reid brought him along.  Maddox and Reid went over to a table in front of the first row of seats. “Holy crap,” Maddox said, opening a box there with the barrel of his rifle.

“What is it?” Almost got it....there. Morgan lifted the shifting device from around her neck and took it off the cords, setting it aside before he took a knife to her bonds. As soon as she was free OtherGirl ran to OtherGuy and he turned to JJ. “Just hang in there.”

“I can feel it.” JJ said again, more remote than scared.

“Shifting devices,” Maddox said. “Familial sets. He has to have three dozen here. Fucker’s collecting or something.”

“Easy.” Now that he knew what he was doing getting this one off JJ was easier. It was only a moment before he lifted it off her neck and cut her bond. She didn’t exactly run to Reid but she moved over quickly enough. Morgan collected up the shifting devices and went to join the others.

And then they heard the slow applause from the stairs above them.

He, Maddox and Reid all drew down on whoever was coming down the stairs. He wasn’t surprised to see the Head Guard, walking toward them with that slow almost swagger like he owned the world. "Wirr va'ti!” He said. “Wirr va'ti! Boin ya'z va' ha'oi ifvirn..."

He didn’t get to finish his sentence. There was a sudden, silent movement behind him, and then faster than they could react his head was grabbed and spun. There was a solid crunch and Odot went down, his neck broken. When he collapsed he revealed his assailant. Bastian was standing there looking at the lot of them. “Why you wait?” He asked in heavily accented English. “You wait for him to tell story first? This not movie picture.”

“Bastian!” Reid said, shocked. He lowered his gun and moved to the larger man. “You speak English?”

Bastian slung his arm around Reid’s shoulder and laughed. “Never tell all you know! Look smarter that way. Elena teach Ladz, I listen.” He pointed to the boxes on the table. “Da'a'tra'rresl?”

Maddox nodded. “Yill.” He started chuckling as well. “We need a distraction.”

“What are you thinking?” Morgan asked.

“Why just get six people out of here?” Maddox pulled a map out of his pocket and showed it to Bastian.

For a moment they shared intel in that other language, until an agreement was reached. Bastian collected up the boxes of shifting devices and looked at Reid and Maddox. “Tell Major Cessa Colonel Jimaz is thirty minutes behind you.”

“Thirty minutes?” Reid asked.

Bastian held up the boxes. “This not take long. Go now; get the kittah out of here.”

Reid put a hand on the larger man’s shoulder. “Thank you for everything. Especially for protecting Elena all that time.”

Bastian clapped hands with him and nodded.   “My honor. Now you take care of them, Lordship.”

Reid grinned in return. “I promise.”

“Come on.” Maddox said.

The six of them headed toward the transport. Bastian took the boxes and headed back to the dorm. “What’s he going to do?” Morgan asked.

Maddox grinned. “Break everyone out and start the war.”

 


	53. Chapter 53

**Chapter 53**

**Day 15**

The ride back was uneventful. After they got everyone tucked under cover in the transport Maddox’s men had gone back in to give the signal to the prison inspector who got them in there. A short time later he came out, bidding his good-byes to the staff, apologizing for not waiting for the Head Guard, citing a family emergency. As they pulled out they heard the pop of gunfire coming from the dorm. Maddox told the inspector what was going on when he asked. The inspector settled back with the soft sigh and warm smile of sweet revenge.

The whole way back Maddox and Reid were engaged in some quiet conversation. OtherGuy and OtherGirl were curled up into each other, and Miss Rosen and Dr. Killris seemed comfortable together. So Morgan took the seat by JJ. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m all right.” She said. “Did the kids make it back okay?”

“Yep, they’re fine. DOD stuck them in quarantine...”

“Oh no...”

“But it’s cool. Blake is there looking after them, they’re comfortable. They said it’s only for another ten or twelve days or so, not forever.”

“All right. Has anyone contacted Will?”

“Hotch said he talked to him.”

“Good.” But she was not good. There was something soft around her eyes, something he had not seen since she transferred out that year. She leaned over and put her head on his shoulder. “This is going to be so complicated.”

“One step at a time. Let’s get home first.”

“Yeah.”

One thing he needed to know though. “So Reid’s in charge now?”

“Yeah. At least for now. I think he’s going to sort it out with Hotch when he gets back. I just know I’m not. I can’t even fake it anymore.”

Given what Maddox said he would work with that. “Okay.”

When they got back to the camp, Maddox hit the ground running. “Okay, my guys on me.” He called out. “Start packing up, we are heading back. I want to be ready to head out in fifteen.” His men started moving like the well oiled machine they were. “Reid.” He nodded for the other man to join him.

Reid turned to Morgan. “Look after the others.” It was a command, but it still had that soft pretty boy edge to it. “I need to get Kaeg and Adriana settled before we go.”

“Okay.” Seemed reasonable enough.

Reid collected OtherGuy and OtherGirl and headed over to where a knot of people were forming. It looked like Reid, Maddox, Xevits, and Suit from the wedding were having a meeting. Handshakes were passed around, OtherGuy and OtherGirl were getting introduced, things were settling out. Hopefully it would not take long. In the meantime the people he was with were having their own reactions. He looked over and found Miss Rosen crying. “You all right?”

She smiled through her tears. “First time I’ve felt fresh air in a year.” She said. “We’re really going home.”

“Yeah, we are.”

“Why do I smell scotch?” JJ asked.

Just then Reid returned with the other men, OtherGuy and OtherGirl having moved on into the group at the camp. “We have a problem.” Reid said.

No, no problems. Not this close. “What?”

“Agent Morgan.” The three of them turned at the sound of a familiar voice. Yep, that was Strauss coming out from behind a building along with Donaldson and a half dozen well armed men. “I’m glad to see you accomplished your mission. Agent Jareau, Dr. Reid, good to see you looking well.”

“Donaldson, you old bastard,” Maddox said, cheerfully. “How’s life on the run treating you?”

“I don’t know what you mean.” Donaldson said. “We’re here to escort Agent Jareau and Dr. Reid into quarantine.”

“And that would be a lie. You’re actually under arrest for treason, all of you.”

Donaldson grinned. “You can’t arrest me.”

“No, but we can.” Morgan said.

“Treason?” Strauss said. “What are you talking about?”

“Donaldson here has been working without sanction.” Morgan told her. “He’s been sharing classified intel and material with a third party. He was planning on holding Reid and JJ here against their will once you had them transferred.”

Strauss blinked at that and her posture grew more rigid. “I had no idea.”

“They’re right.” JJ said. “You _can_ smell lies.”

“Yeah, and her microexpressions are giving it away.”   Reid said, an edge of hard anger in his voice.

Donaldson chuckled. “It doesn’t matter. You two will be returning with us. The rest of you can stay here for all we care. We’ll be destroying the ring after we head through.”

“No, you won’t.” Maddox said.

“I have two dozen men off in those woods. You’re out armed.”

“And we just allied with Rejard here as well as Major Cessa.” Maddox said, nodding to the other two men. Rejard had to be Suit from the wedding. “There are about that many za’rph soldiers heading their way, half with shift collars on. It ought to make for an interesting battle.”

At least Donaldson realized his lack of control here. “How dare you! That will be a massacre!”

“They’re mercs on their planet. Not our problem.” Maddox nodded and a brace of local soldiers stepped out and took control of Donaldson’s men. “They’ll hold you for the rest of the night, then take you back to the ring, giving us about a six hour lead. That ought to give us enough time to disarm whatever explosives you have at the ring and get back to Detrick.”

“We’ll report in to Agent Hotchner when we arrive.” Reid said. “You already know how my reports are accepted by the Bureau. I’m sure they’ll be waiting to arrest you when you arrive there.” He stepped up to Strauss and met her eyes firmly. “You have a problem. The first step is admitting it. I’m sure if you explain that to John he’ll let you retire with your full pension.”

Strauss’s eyes narrowed as Reid referred to the Director by name. “I’ll have your badge for this.”

“No you won’t.” He took a step closer, right into her personal space, and loomed over her. “But you should know, if you go near JJ or any of my people again I’ll find you. And I won’t be wearing my inhibitor when I do.”

For the first time Morgan saw real fear in Strauss’s eyes. “Go to hell.”

“I just got out. See you in a few hours.” He stepped back and turned to his small group as Rejard’s men arrested Donaldson, Strauss and the others. “Ready?”

Miss Rosen, Elena, and Dr. Killris had been bidding farewell to OtherGuy and OtherGirl, Kaeg and Adriana. “More than.” She said as she stepped to his side.

And off they went.

 


	54. Chapter 54

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 5 - Healing
> 
> The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love.  
> \- Hubert H. Humphrey

**Chapter 54**

**Day 15**

It was cold.

They were moving very fast.

It was hard to breathe.

And then they landed.

In a blink the forest around Spencer changed into a military base. He looked around at the large, well lit space. Earth, right? Friendly territory?

Then he saw Hotch and Rossi beyond the control room glass.

Now he could breathe again.

And then he felt it.

He felt it roll under his skin.

Elena turned to him. “Spencer?” She asked, her eyes wide.

He felt it. And he felt her. Her scent was sweet. “Just hang on. Keep breathing. Maddox explained it, they have a way to help.”

A moment later people in uniform with medical insignia flooded the room and started strapping devices on their arms. Spencer didn’t object. “Inhibitors must be worn at all times outside of the quarantine facility.” The major in charge said.

“Right.” It wasn’t heavy, thankfully. He felt a burning sort of bite into his skin and the rolling under his skin retreated. Helpful, but his eyes met Maddox’s and he nodded. He would not be relying on this. He needed to learn to control the beast.

The beast.

This was going to be _amazing_.

Once everyone had an inhibitor on they lifted lockdown. The doors opened again and Hotch and Rossi came in. “Thank God!” Rossi said.

“Amen.” JJ replied, as she moved into his huge hug.

“Welcome back.” Hotch said, coming over to where he was standing with Morgan and Elena. “Are you two all right?”

“Reasonably,” Spencer said. Maddox said their scars would heal at the next shift cycle, otherwise they were physically in decent shape. “Showers and hot meals though.”

“The military is insisting on a quarantine period. They have a facility set up.”

“They’re right in that.” He looked over to Elena. “No Hay-Adams yet.”

“I’ll hold you to it for later.” She said with a smile.

“Absolutely. This is our boss, SSA Aaron Hotchner. Hotch, this is Elena Rosen, um, my fiancée.”

“Miss Rosen.”

“Elena, please.”

Hotch looked back at Spencer. “You know this is against the rules.”

No getting involved with a witness. That had come up with Lila, and again with Austen. “Yeah, I don’t care this time.” He looked over at the older man who was looking over the equipment with fascination. “And that is Dr. Ladz Killris of Lellit University. Ladz...”

Ladz looked around and finally came over. “How they make them so big? I _must_ know!”

“You will.” There was time for that, but not for this. “We found Strauss and Donaldson.”

“What?” Hotch asked.

“They made it back to the planet.” Morgan said. “Looks like they used those missing ring components to get themselves there. “

“How did they manage to get enough power?” Beauregard asked.

“Not a clue.” Maddox said. “Major Cessa’s people were going to hold them for six hours then get them to the ring and send them back here.”

“We told Strauss that Donaldson was acting without sanction.” Morgan said. “She already knew.”

Hotch nodded. He looked grim. So did Rossi. “We’ll take care of it. You three get to quarantine; let the medical people look you over. We’ll meet you there when this is dealt with.”

“Do I have to go?” Morgan asked.

“Seven days.” Major McGuire said, “Until you can give us a clean blood test.”

Morgan sighed but didn’t argue.

\------

When they reached the facility the first person they met was Lillit, bursting through the doors of the common room. “Mamma!” She cried, all but jumping into JJ’s arms.

Spencer sighed himself. He’d felt the presence of Jotir and the children as soon as he stepped off the bus. Having them all here and safe did immense things for his stress level. “Glad you made it.” He said to Jotir, who listened to Elena’s translation and offered one of those formal bows, but with a friendly smile.

By then JJ had collected a hug from Aviv. Now she turned to Jotir and he to her. After a long moment of just staring she stepped into his arms.

Morgan stared at that a long moment before turning to Spencer. “Is that....”

“Complicated.” Spencer turned to Major McGuire. “What’s the visitor policy?”

“If you’re referring to Agent Jareau’s family, we think it better to stick with adults only for now.” McGuire said. “We don’t know how...it...will react around biological children yet. But we have full net access.”

He could understand McGuire’s concern. Skype would have to do for a few days. “All right.”

Just then Blake entered the lobby. “Spencer! Elena!”

“Dr. Blake!” He watched Elena tear up and all but run to collect a hug from her mentor.

“I am so glad you made it!” Blake said. Then she opened her arms for Spencer.   “You too. I am so glad.”

Elena stepped out of the way of Spencer’s hug. “We’re getting married.” She blurted out.

“Oh!” Blake beamed. “Wonderful!”

“Will you act as mother of the bride?”

That wasn’t really what Elena was asking. Spencer knew she was really asking for support right now, when the transition was so abrupt and huge. And he saw that understanding in Blake’s eyes as well. “Moon mother? I would be honored.” With that she pulled Elena into another hug as the younger woman burst into tears.

He didn’t want to let go of Elena but he sensed that she needed the comfort of a maternal figure right now. And he had to make sure everyone was settled. To that end he turned to Maddox, this was his territory in the end, or so the mind he was just starting to sense was telling him. “That’s your space, this is ours.” Maddox said, nodding to the different hallways. “We share the common room and hunting ground. Agreed?”

“Agreed.” Hopefully that would work moving forward or else the military was going to have to spend a lot on fencing. “Is it really going to be that simple?”

Maddox grinned. “Hell if I know. There’s supposed to be a shit ton of protocol around two clan chiefs living together. We kept our distance from Rejard’s group just to avoid that. I don’t know all the details.”

“I bet Jotir does. Should we?”

“Might be better. Get the structure in place before slacking it.”

“All right. I’ll talk to Jotir; see what we have to do.” As he turned a whiff of the mines came to him. “After a shower.”

Maddox chuckled. “Sounds good.”

“We have room assignments for your people Dr. Reid.” McGuire said.

His people. He looked over the room, Elena and Ladz with Blake, JJ with part of her family, Morgan chatting with Maddox’s men. His people, his friends old and new. His family. All here, all safe. “Good.”


	55. Chapter 55

**Chapter 55**

**Day 15**

Thirty minutes after he arrived at the facility and Spencer Reid was beginning to get an idea of what being a...being a...oh good hell he could not use the term...really entailed.

According to Maddox one big thing that set alphas off from others was the ability to read the other’s mind while in human form and to override it’s behavior both in human and other form. According to him strong betas, like his men and Jotir, could learn to override the other when in that form with practice and patience but they weren’t able to clearly identify it in human form. Omegas like JJ and Elena couldn’t clearly identify it in human form and had little if any hope of controlling it in the other form. But for him and Maddox the communication was clear from the get-go.

He could feel that other mind, could sense what it was thinking along the neural-electrical pathways the prions had created in his mind that connected him across the dimensional barrier. No one was entirely certain how it worked yet, although Maddox had said something about string theory perhaps, but the science behind it was not his thing. No matter, there was time to sort that out with McGuire and Ladz and the scientists here later. What mattered now was that it was real, he was not schizophrenic, there really was another mind he could now somehow reach with his own.

And that mind was not human.

He was learning that it relied on scent much more than he did, and that scent drove it’s actions and desires. Right now what it wanted most of all was whatever that savory scent from the kitchen was. After that it wanted to explore that soft, enticing scent coming off Elena. And then it wanted to go curl in it’s den for a very long time before repeating the process.

Unfortunately he had yet to even make it into the god dammed shower.

On their way from the launch facility to quarantine they had told Hotch and Rossi about Strauss’ behavior, everything from sending JJ to Afghanistan with no warning or training to showing up on another planet while in cahoots with a known traitor. Hotch of course immediately got the Director on the phone. Within fifteen minutes of them arriving at quarantine John wanted to speak to JJ about what happened. JJ, still fairly newly infected, as exhausted, hungry and grimy as he was and overloaded with both personal and professional stress, proceeded to have an understandable panic attack. The only hope for it was to go in to the meeting with her. As her kappo, her alpha in English, it was his duty to help her keep calm and under control and provide support as much as he could.

Which was why he was leaning against a counter on one side of the meeting room while JJ spoke to John over Skype, trying to prop his eyelids open with a cup of coffee. It didn’t look like he was actually doing anything but he could sense that on the other side his other was curled around hers, providing comfort and a badly needed sense of protection. If that was what she needed he was happy to provide.

The other plus side was sharper hearing. This meant that when Maddox slipped in the door to come stand next to him they could speak quietly enough to not be caught by the sound pick-ups in the room. “You know coffee doesn’t work on us anymore.” He said.

Spencer sighed. “I didn’t need to know that right now.” The psychosomatic effect alone might have kept him on his feet a bit longer.

Maddox winced. “Sorry. Johnson got the protocol out of your man Jotir. Lots and lots of protocol. They’re setting up for dinner tonight.”

“Good.” When they had asked Jotir what the protocol was for two clan chiefs under one roof he had looked straight at Spencer and demurred. Apparently no one told a clan chief what to do so the answer was always ‘whatever you like’. Instead Spencer had asked him to share with Maddox’s second-in-command, which from the sound of it had triggered a tidal wave of information.

“Maybe not. He shared some concern about you and Elena sharing a room. He’s concerned that you might claim her before taking proper vows.” Maddox was grinning. “He said it would set a bad example for the kiddos.”

Oh good crap. “Fine. She and JJ can room together. If need be I’ll room with Ladz.” That would be unfortunate, while the other preferred to share sleeping space with like others Ladz had decided he was too old for such things and expressed a desire for his own quiet space. When Spencer had gone into this meeting Ladz had been heading off to his room for a shower and a nap.

“You don’t have to.”

“I don’t want to take advantage or demand special consideration.”

“Uhhh, yeah. As a Clan Chief you’re supposed to. It shows strength which comforts the others by letting them know that they have a strong leader and protector around.” Maddox held up a finger to stifle his protest. “A good leader takes just enough advantage to show strength without bullying or harming the human form.”

“Huh.” Given the kind of species that most closely mimicked the other’s behavior patterns Spencer could see his point. “He’s afraid if we room together I’ll claim her before we have some sort of marriage ceremony.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, he’s just going to have to trust that I can control this thing.” Because there was no way on this or any other planet that he would do anything like that before Elena was ready, and now before this ceremony, regardless of what the beast wanted. And seeing her come to breakfast unmarked morning after morning would be a good testament to how strong he really was.

Maddox grinned again. “There you go.”

“Which doesn’t answer the question of where JJ is going to sleep.”

“Yeah, he asked Johnson and Ramirez to help him move another bunk into the room with him and the kids.”

“Right.” On the one hand it was not the human’s job to tell JJ what to do in her personal life. On the other hand the other wanted him to deal with this before it upset group dynamics. Which was why, when the meeting took a break a few minutes later, he stepped up. “How long?”

“About fifteen.” Hotch said. “The Director needs to speak to the team waiting to collect Davidson, Strauss and the others in the launch facility.”

“Is there anything we need to share right now that’s time sensitive?”

“No, I don’t believe so.”

“Then why don’t we resume in an hour.”

That stopped Hotch and got his full attention. “I’m sorry?”

Spencer still respected Hotch. He had immense experience in their field, was everything a strong leader ought to be, had shown amazing courage in his professional and personal life and more than all of that was a friend. He firmly intended to return to the unit and once again submit to Hotch as his boss. But the other was pissed as hell that some mere human was telling it’s omega what to do and was telling him that JJ was a lot more tired and upset that she was letting on. It was demanding that he step up and be the alpha he always could be. So he stood tall and looked Hotch straight in the eye. “We need showers and food and JJ needs to call Will. If nothing is time sensitive then John can wait. I’ll tell him myself if need be.”

“John?” Rossi asked.

Hotch looked somewhat surprised. “I know Morgan sent that report.” Maddox said.

“Right.” Hotch nodded. “One hour.”

A moment later JJ came over and curled into a side hug. “Remember that discussion we had?” He asked. She nodded. “Go get a shower. Come back and get lunch. Find a quiet corner and call Will and Henry.” She wanted someone to take command and make decisions. He was still stepping up.

“Yes sir.” She was teasing but the look in her eyes was grateful.

Maddox smiled as she moved off. “Nice.”

Great, Spencer thought. Maybe I can do this after all.


	56. Chapter 56

**Chapter 56**

**Day 15**

Once he saw JJ off to her bathroom to finally get cleaned up Spencer checked on Elena, who was still deep in conversation with Blake, on Ladz, who was snoring, and on Jotir and the kids, who were in the common room with Maddox’s men setting it up as a formal hall as best they could. He asked Maddox to have his men set something up for him, which was agreed to with no issue. With everyone happily in place he crossed his fingers and headed for the shower.

And ran right into Garcia. “Oh my god look at you!” She all but screamed as she saw his scars and battered face.

“I’ll heal.” He told her. “JJ’s just as bad but they swear we’ll be all right in a couple of weeks.”

“Ohhhh they better be right. Can I hug you?”

He sighed. No one could say no to the office sunbeam. “I haven’t had a shower.”

“I don’t care!” She threw her arms around him anyway. “Ew, no, you really haven’t.”

“I warned you. Did you find the bed conversion kit?” He was not going to share a twin with Elena another night. Not when they had the option of strapping two twin beds together to make a very comfortable king.

“Yep, right here. As well as the tablets you asked for except for JJ because she already has one so I started there and made sure everything was compatible.   Do you know what you want on them?”

“After a shower.” He’d sent back the requests at the end of the report Jotir had carried to Hotch. There was no way his little band would handle living out on some estate in the country like most with the infection. Even this place was too far out. No, they were all city dwellers, and keeping them all as connected as the beasts wanted to be would be a lot easier with electronic help. “And a chance to make the bed. Thank you for this.”

“Oh, no problem, any excuse to shop. Where is JJ anyway?”

“In the shower, first room down on the right. After that ought to be lunch and a call to Will.”

“Okay, I will go check on her.”

Garcia headed off and he headed to the last room on the right, further down the hall for privacy. The bag Garcia brought had his favorite soap. There ought to be more than enough hot water.

But as Spencer started to take off his clothes he stopped. He looked down at what he was wearing, the tattered remains of a dress shirt and worn cords, covered in wood splinters from the shelf in the prison cell and grey, acrid dust and mud from their trek to the ring. Then he took them off very carefully and set them aside.

He had worn those on another _planet_.

He started the water and got in the shower. As the hot water steamed around him and beat down on his skin he thought of the past two weeks, days he would never forget. He thought back on the fear and the love and the anger he had felt, and he thought of Brian and Bastian, of Kaeg and Adriana, of the people trapped in that hell and the people fighting to save their lives and their way of life.

With the roar of the water shielding him from the rest of the building he slid to the floor of the shower, buried his face in his knees, and howled out the emotions he had stored for so long.

About the time the howls were turning to sobs he heard the sound of the door and felt a faint breeze. A moment later a warm, somehow familiar body was curling around him. “I should have done more.” He said. “I should have done more for them.”

“You did what you could for your people.” Elena told him as she pulled him into her arms. “You got us out of there.”

He rested his head on her shoulder under the falling water and let it mingle with his tears. “I still should have done more.”

“I know you feel that way. You did everything you could though. And we can still do more, at least a little. We can help save the noble culture; keep it here where the rebels can’t destroy it.”

There was that. It hardly seemed like enough but helping to preserve an endangered culture could be enormous. It was something they could all do together. “We can. We will.” He lifted his head and found her eyes. “Thank you. I’m sorry.”

She looked confused at that. “For what?”

“I’m supposed to be the strong one.”

That got a smile. “No one can be strong all the time. But you are. You know, when I first found the device that took me there I was trying to find a signal on my phone. I was going to call you to come rescue me from what was looking like a horrible trip.”

“I would have.” That week-end she was supposed to be camping with friends. He would have driven out to pick her up. But then, “I kinda did.”

She laughed at that. “Yeah, you did.” Then she leaned in and her lips found his.

She tasted so sweet. Her scent filled his senses, and this soft melting sensation that was a part of her now. The beast was entirely please with this particular turn of events. He could feel it circling hers somehow, as they began their own dance of courtship and beginnings. Deni, he thought, that bond that meant forever, that bond that happened when two humans loved as hard as their beast. Deni, when the humans come together and the beasts... “Mate.” He said between kisses.

“Hmmmm?”

Mate. That’s what it meant.   “Mate.” He said again. He was going to claim her as his mate as well as his wife, it was only a matter of time. But time mattered. “We can’t do this yet.” He said even as he lightly nipped at her chin.

“Why not?” Elena asked as she pressed lazy kisses along his jaw line.

“Jotir.”

“Jotir? Something you’re not telling me?”

He chuckled. “No. He thinks it would set a bad example for the kids if we didn’t do their rites first.”

“Ahhhh. And if we’re going to preserve their culture it would be better if we did wait. Um, how long?”

This was the rub. She had been through a major trauma, she ought to have time to heal. “However much time you think you need.”

“Oh. Think we can pull it off by tonight?”

Or maybe not. Maybe he should insist but he already knew that wouldn’t work for either of them. “Rossi needs at least twelve hours to work.”

She laughed at that. “I was joking.”

“I wasn’t. He pulled off JJ and Will’s wedding in twelve hours. It was really nice.”

She nodded. “A little longer than twelve hours. Soon though, very soon.” With that she was kissing him again.

It would be so easy, he realized. Just turn and take and.... “We should probably get out of this shower.”

“I don’t want to.” But she was already rising and holding her hands out to help him.

Soon, he thought. Very soon indeed


	57. Chapter 57

**Chapter 57**

**Day 15**

When they finally re-grouped, after JJ had a chance to get in what seemed to be a short, unsatisfying conversation with Will and a short but very satisfying one with Henry it was for a too-long discussion that went around and around the same question. What was Donaldson up to?

As for Strauss...”She admitted she has a problem.” Rossi said. “She said he was blackmailing her.”

“And that covers what she did to JJ how?” Spencer asked.

“It doesn’t.” Rossi said. “It doesn’t cover what she did to you or what she tried to do to me and Emily either. Unless you want to chalk it all up to poor impulse control.”

Wait. Huh? “What did she do to me?”

“You know that coffee thermos you always draw from?”

“Yeah.” French roast Colombian. Not the strongest in terms of caffeine, but sturdy enough to stand up to the rich cream and sugar he liked and smooth enough to drink all day.

“When we changed services she had them fill it with decaf.”

Spencer felt his brain go into vapor lock. “She wha...?” The rest of the team started hiding their smiles. “It was....” Every symptom he had fit caffeine withdrawal. Every. Single. One. “I had an MRI done!” He said, louder than he wanted to.

Now they were outright laughing. “Send her a bill for the co-pay.” Rossi said.

Thankfully he had Elena there to hug him until he calmed down.

After that it was dinner. According to Jotir meat, or rather meat, poultry and eggs were a big deal in Noble/infected culture. Rank was shown by he (or she) who got to the meat first. If someone got into the meat out of order it would be remembered and trigger a fight once shifted. Many of their customs were geared toward avoiding those dominance fights.

As a result instead of a steam line and a number of smaller tables the dining area had been re-configured to two long tables, one for Maddox and his men, one for Spencer and his clan. People were deliberately seated by rank, in Spencer’s case he had Elena on his right, Ladz next to her, Lillit next and then Alex. Jotir sat at his left, followed by Aviv, JJ and Morgan. This was to facilitate ease of passing the platters of meat down the table; every other dish was passed family style. Maddox set his men in some way that had to do with military culture.

“You know this feels silly, right.” Spencer said to Maddox as they sat.

“Yeah, but better safe than sorry. I don’t want to risk ripping your throat out.” The other man replied.

At least half of Spencer’s table blinked at that, but with the other influencing him, Spencer found himself taking it in stride. “How do you know I wouldn’t rip out yours?”

Maddox laughed. “Let’s not find out, yeah?”

“Agreed,” Spencer found himself grinning.

As was the custom when two or more aligned clan chiefs sat down for dinner in the same hall their stewards, in this case Jotir and Johnson, each stepped up with a plate holding a serving of meat, in this case the venison Jotir brought back the other night, on a three count they carefully set the plates in front of the clan chiefs at the exact same moment. In this way neither received his meat before the other, and neither showed dominance.

Once that bit of business was dealt with plates were passed and a very pleasant family-style dinner carried on.   “So meat is a very important part of the culture.” Alex said. “Are there any other customs around serving it?”

Ladz’s smile twinkled. “Townsman culture does not have these rituals.” He said. “Unfortunately I know nothing about Noble culture.” But he turned to Jotir and translated the question. “Apparently the clan chief is also the first one served meat in the morning. No one else may partake of it until he has been served, although they may eat of other things as they like.”

“What happens if he doesn’t get up in the morning?” Morgan asked.

“The House Steward brings him the first of the cooked meat.” Ladz translated. “He remains at the bedside until it is eaten; thereby assuring that the proper respect has been shown by the house.”

“What if the chief is still asleep?” Alex asked.

“He waits until the chief is ready. Although Lord Kesstal always respected his people and never made him wait long.”

Morgan grinned. “What if he is otherwise occupied?” Everyone knew what that meant.

Ladz translated the question, Jotir shrugged and answered in what was clearly a roundabout way, giving Aviv a sideways glance. That got a surprised response from Ladz. “He said he waits at the bedside until the Chief is ready for his meal, regardless of what the Chief does.”

They all knew what he was trying not to say in front of the children. At the same time Morgan and JJ clapped hands over their mouths to stifle their laughter, Alex looked at Jotir and asked “Seriously!?”, and Elena showered poor Ladz with lemonade as she nearly choked.

You didn’t need to know the language to know what they were saying. Poor Jotir was turning red on them. He said something, then Lillit asked a question to which he gave a rather long winded answer. “He told her that sometimes her father was seeing to the bills when he came in in the morning, and he would have to wait a bit before he could give him the morning meat. But that did not happen very often.” Ladz translated.

“Paying bills,” Morgan nodded, a grin on his face. “That’s what they call it over there.”

“We are so going to have to modify that custom.” Elena said.

“Agreed,” Spencer said. Nope, he was not going to wake to Jotir standing at his bedside, especially not if he and Elena were...yea, no. He looked over at Maddox. “How do you deal with that custom?”

“Up ‘till now I didn’t give a fuck.” Maddox said.

As one JJ and Alex clamped hands over Aviv and Lillit’s ears. “Language!” JJ said

“What? They don’t speak English yet.” Maddox said with a groan.

They all barely stopped laughing for the rest of the meal.


	58. Chapter 58

**Chapter 58**

**Day 16**

The next morning Spencer awoke to a very gentle tapping on the door. He blinked and stretched and savored the size of the bed around him and the warm body curled up next to him. He’d had nightmares, mostly of being back in the factory, but nothing that had disturbed him overly much or that had been unexpected. And he felt rested enough to start the day.

He found his glasses, slid out of bed without waking Elena, visited the small bathroom, did what needed doing, and stuck his head out into the hall. Last night they had discussed this whole Morning Meat custom with Jotir and had agreed upon a way to modify it to preserve both the Voirette tradition and the Earthling sense of propriety and decency. After all, it did not feel right to him to have Jotir stand there holding a tray for however long, and he sure as hell did not want him walking in while he and Elena were doing anything intimate. That was not going to happen.

But it wasn’t just the whole ritual of meat, it was also feeding the other, and making sure you had enough energy to maintain control over the connection. All “Riders” got something in bed for that reason alone. And Spencer could see the wisdom of it; he had been waking up famished ever since the infection took hold and he could see how the other would be harder to control if hungry.

The solution had been a simple one. Spencer had borrowed a small table from the common room and placed it right outside the door. Jotir had placed the tray he brought on it, knocked lightly, and went on about his business. He could assume that since the meat had been delivered proper respect was maintained; when Spencer got around to actually eating it was his business.

But of course Jotir had asked if he ought to bring anything else, and Spencer was supposed to press a little in places where it wouldn’t cause any harm. Sure enough, there was the tray on the table, holding a basket with the muffins of the day to feed the hunger, a plate with two ceremonial slices of bacon, and two blessed mugs of coffee.

“Did he really bring coffee?” Elena murmured from the depths of the bed as Spencer brought the tray back in.

“Mmm hmmm.” Someone, likely Morgan, had written His and Hers on the mugs. He placed the one for her on the corner of the desk that was serving as her nightstand and took the remainder of the tray back to his side so he could crawl in next to her. “The caffeine may no longer affect us...”

“Oh hell.” Elena said.

“...but there is a positive psychological effect.” He could feel the other in there. It had been cranky when it first woke and smelled meat and thought that the others dared eat first. But seeing that meat had been delivered had soothed it back to quietude. Spencer took the first piece and offered the second to Elena. “Mate?”

“Mmm, thank you.” She sat up cross-legged in bed and accepted before making the long arm to get her mug. “Did he leave anything else?”

“Ummm, blueberry muffins.” He passed the basket as soon as he finished his bacon.

“I hate to say it but I could get used to this.” She said as she fished one out. “But we don’t have non-infected cooks in the kitchen to bring him any.”

“I’m thinking bakery delivery. We’ll probably go through enough to make it cost effective.”

“So we’re all going to live together then?”

Huh. “I think so, if everyone agrees. It would allow us all to help with adaptation and recovery and apparently works best for those infected.”

“This means we’re going to need a house.”

He nodded. “I’ll talk to Morgan, he knows a lot about real estate. We’ll need a room, of course, and one each for the kids and one for Jotir. Hopefully we can swing a little suite for Ladz.”

“He’d like that.”

“And JJ will need a room, at least some of the time.” All of a sudden the hair on Spencer’s neck lifted. “Did you feel that?”

“Feel what?” Elena asked.

“The best analogy I can come up with is a...a ripple in the Force.”

She gave him one of those looks, “Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

“Might want to go check it out Obi-wan,” she finished the last bite of muffin. “I’m going to go have a shower before I come out. Make sure they save some breakfast for us.”

“I will.” He stole a kiss before she headed off and he headed out, tray of remains in hand. He dropped that off at the kitchen window with a thank you to the staff there before he headed to the common room. Something was up, the kids were inside on a warm day, Jotir was playing a game with them, and all the other adults were sitting around one of the tables acting somewhat nervous. And Morgan was cradling a very large rifle in addition to his coffee. “Why so armed?” Spencer asked after he refilled his mug.

“Dart gun. Tranquilizer. They said someone needed to have one in case JJ lost control, their words.” Morgan said. “And then Maddox here said better me than any of his men.”

Spencer thought about this. Morgan was a neutral party to the other and a brother to him and JJ, while Maddox was something else even as he was a friend. The other would not be pleased to have Maddox hurt JJ, while it didn’t seem to feel anything in particular about Morgan. “He has a point. But why would JJ lose control?” Morgan gestured to the back yard with his mug. “Errrrr.....” Right, Will was here. And that discussion looked more than a little emotionally fraught. “Great.”

“Did you know she was pregnant?”

“She told me, while we were in the cells. Did you?”

“It was in the file Strauss shared with the program.”

“Which eventually got to Will.” It wasn’t a question

“Yeah.”

“Ugh.” There was no way this could be good. He perched on the back of a nearby couch and waited to see which way the fallout blew. “What about Henry?”

“McGuire doesn’t want him to visit just yet.” Maddox said. “She wants to see how the other side will react first. She may have to work up to that.”

“Garcia said he’s down at Grandma’s.” Morgan said.

“Oh.” That was all right, Henry would be safe and happy there while everything sorted out.

It only seemed to take forever. Eventually whatever they were saying died out, and then Will left. No hugs, no kisses, no nothing, he just walked back into the common room. “Hey.” He said, not exactly looking at anyone. “Glad you all made it back. Um, I got to get back to work.”

“Yeah man.” Morgan said.

Will all but ran out of there at that point. Spencer looked at JJ, at her huddled posture as she stood by the picnic table. He had a vague sense of Maddox holding Morgan back, but right now his focus was only on his sister and omega. He closed the door behind him and climbed on the table to sit next to her.

“We’re going in to counseling.” She said, in a voice holding back tears.

“That’s good.” Spencer said.

“He’s not happy. He’s not certain he can be married to someone who has to lie and hide things.”

“He knew you were FBI when you first started dating.”

“Yeah, but our mission has been drifting. You know that. And with everything that happened...” She gave up on holding back the tears. “He asked how could I have been honest about our vows when I was lying about everything else.”

Oh hell. “I’m sorry,” was all he could say.

“And now the job is in our bedroom, as he put it, and he’s not certain he can live with that either. He hasn’t decided what he wants to do about that and until he does...” She looked in the direction of Jotir and Spencer could feel the yearning coming off her beast.

“What about Henry?” Spencer asked.

“He’s his primary parent, really. And he’s fantastic, Henry is fine. And now I don’t know when I’ll be able to see him again; if I’ll be able to see him again. But Will said he wouldn’t keep us apart.” By now her tears were flowing freely. “I can’t tell if everything’s falling apart or not. It feels like I’ve just slid into limbo and I don’t know how to find my way out. I don’t know what to do.”

He pulled her in to his arms as she started sobbing. “Neither do I.” He said, honestly. “But you don’t have to figure it out alone.”

 


	59. Chapter 59

**Chapter 59**

**Day 16**

There were six rooms assigned to Spencer’s group at the quarantine facility. He and Elena had one, Ladz had one, Morgan was staying in one for a few more days, JJ, Jotir and the kids were sharing one, and one was being used to store unused furniture. That left one. Once JJ was calmed down enough to take Lillit on a hike he rounded up Morgan and Jotir and set about setting up what he thought they needed. The beds and bedroom furniture came out and one of the round tables they weren’t using in the common room went in. He brought in ample chairs, a fan to blow Ladz’s pipe smoke out the window (Earth tobacco was apparently very smooth) and acquired a white board from McGuire.

Once Morgan realized what he was doing he laughed for five minutes straight.

After a casual lunch they sat down in their new meeting room and McGuire and Maddox told them all exactly what had happened and what was going to happen to them. “You are not serious.” Morgan said.

“How is this possible?” Ladz said around his pipe.

“We suspect there’s a trans-dimensional shift involved with it.” McGuire replied.

Ladz looked like he was about to answer but instead got a faraway look and pulled out his notebook. Right, he was occupied for a while.

“You are not serious.” Morgan said again.

Spencer couldn’t help it, he was grinning ear to ear. It was like having super powers or something!   “Isn’t it amazing?”

“So says the King of Halloween.” Morgan replied.

“I can’t do this.” JJ said. She got up and started pacing the room. “I can’t do this. What if I turn into...that around Will? Or Henry? Oh god, Henry.”

“You won’t.” Maddox said. He held up his wrist and showed the inhibitor. “These things work real well.”

One of Maddox’s men, Vasquez, had been brought in to translate so Ladz and Elena could focus. He had been translating to Jotir this entire time, now he translated what the man had to say. “He said he’s been around children and families his whole life. It will take more discipline here but there’s no reason to be afraid of the beast. It’s your friend, not your enemy.”

JJ turned and looked at him. “You do this? You’ve done this?”

“Yes, many times.” Jotir replied. “I’ve been a rider for over ten years now, I’ve ridden many times with Lord Kesstal’s men, sometimes two or three times a month. It is nothing to be afraid of.”

“Over ten...oh god, is this going to happen to the kids?” JJ asked.

Aviv nodded eagerly. “I hope soon!” He shot a look at Spencer and settled back like he might have overstepped.

But Spencer wasn’t upset. “The next full moon I think. Maddox, you were saying something about that?”

“Yes.” McGuire spoke up. “At the peak of the full moon the magnetic forces that we believe force the other side to come to this dimension are strongest, too strong to be overridden by the inhibitors. This facility is set up to handle that time safely.”

“So we just come here and let it happen?” Elena asked.

“It does take a great deal of energy to shift back and forth.” McGuire replied. “You’ll be required to eat beforehand, then go through the shifting process soon after. After a shift is completed most are so exhausted they go right to sleep, usually for a good eight hours. The medics will help you to bed and keep an eye on you overnight, then after breakfast the next morning you can go back to your normal life.”

“What if we’re on a case?” JJ asked.

“It’s a matter of national security.” McGuire said. “This program overrides pretty much everything else, including the FBI. If need be we can send a jet anywhere in the world to pick you up.”

JJ nodded. “Great.”

“Are you okay with this?” Spencer asked Elena.

She thought about it but nodded slowly. “Not like I have much of a choice. But I’ll tell you now, outside of here this is not coming off. Although...” She looked over at McGuire. “Can you make an ankle version?”

“Um, sure, if you want.”

“Good. This won’t go with a wedding dress.” That got smiles.

“This is what Donaldson wanted.” Morgan said. “What he got Strauss hooked in to.” He looked over at Maddox. “You guys went hunting in Afghanistan like this, didn’t you?”

Maddox grinned, “Some of us, yeah.”

“Son of a bitch!” JJ yelled.

“What?” Spencer asked.

“We heard stories of the Americans hunting with monsters in the hills. We thought they were rumors the terrorists started to get civilians over to their side.” JJ glared at Maddox. “It was you people, wasn’t it?”

Maddox shrugged. “Sorry?”

“Aarrrgggghhhh!” She went back to pacing.

“That’s what they want.” Morgan said. “They want a team that can hunt like that inside the US. Domestic terrorists, they like hiding out in the wilderness.”

“No.” JJ said, backing away from the idea. “I can’t. There’s no way, I just...”

“JJ,” Spencer got her attention. “You won’t.” It was that new thing inside him that had him stepping up. Now it was stepping up once more. “Unless we’re here you keep your inhibitor on.”

“But what if they still want a team?” Morgan asked.

“I’ll do it.” Spencer replied. “But within the context of the BAU, if something comes up that requires that kind of muscle then we ought to be there to advise anyway. We can, I don’t know, split into two units if it comes to that.”

“What if you need back up?” Morgan asked.

Spencer thought a moment and looked at Jotir. “We’ve told you about what we do. If one of these bad men decided to hide in the woods would you help me hunt them? That’s a request, not a command.”

Jotir didn’t need to think for too long. “I joined the army to do just that.” He said through the translator. “These people have been good to us, offered us safety and shelter. If I can help them I will.”

Spencer nodded and looked to Morgan. “He’s got a military background and ten years practice with the beast. He’d be the best to second, even if we have to send for him.”

Morgan shrugged, “Sounds good to me.”

“They’ll need people who don’t shift to act as back-up.” McGuire said. “To help them to a safe place to rest after and to carry a tranquilizer gun in case they lose control over the beast.”

“I can do that.” Morgan said.

Elena smiled. “You sound comfortable with the idea.”

“Has he told you about the Death Star yet?” Morgan shook his head. “I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve wanted to stick a dart in his ass.”

“You can’t shift away from the facility until I clear you for it.” McGuire said. “It may take years to develop enough control.”

“It never takes years for the genius to learn how to do anything.” Morgan said.

“Yeah, but it’s not intellectual.” Maddox said. “You have to kind of feel it.”

“And you can?”

In reply Maddox rested his elbow on the table, undid the cuff of his shirt and rolled it to mid-bicep. He closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate inward. And as they watched his hand changed.

His hand changed.

It seemed to ripple and fade somehow but even as it was fading something else was fading in in its place. For a moment the two seemed to slide by each other, an effect that hurt the brain to even look at.

When it was over Maddox no longer had a hand.

At least not a _human_ hand.

It was larger than a human hand. It had the same basic shape, but thicker, heavier, clearly more powerful. What had been his palm was now covered in thick pads like a paw, and from what had been his fingertips sprouted thick, sharp claws over three inches long. It was covered with thick, short, iron gray fur that tapered into skin just past his wrist. As soon as it was done Maddox opened his eyes, smiled, and flexed it like he would fingers, rolling and grasping in the air. “Like that.” He said.

“Oh my god,” JJ said.

“That’s....” Morgan looked amazed and disbelieving at the same time. He reached out as if to touch it.

“Uhhh...” Maddox pulled back a bit, “Glove up first. We’re pretty sure this form sheds prions from the claws.”

Morgan blinked and pulled gloves from his pocket. Once he had them one he gingerly reached for Maddox’s new hand, only to have his friend take his hand in return. Morgan swallowed and looked at the group. “It’s real.”

“Of course it’s real.” Jotir said through the translator as he smiled at their astonishment.

Lillit had been sitting there drawing through the whole meeting, now she looked, shrugged, and went back to her sketching. “Girl’s fur is prettier.” She said.

“Once you know the physics behind it it’s not all that hard.” Spencer said.

They all turned to look as he pulled his arm out from under the table.

He no longer had a hand.

It was heavier than his hand usually was, longer and more dexterous. It was warmer as well, and the thick pads and soft brown fur kept the heat in.   And the claws were heavy, he could feel how they overbalanced a bit, how they would make good weapons to rend and tear.

It was in the top five coolest things that ever happened to him. Up there with going to another planet, meeting and then finding Elena, and Lila.

JJ looked at him wide eyed. “Spence?” She asked.

“It’s okay. It doesn’t hurt.” He held it out where she could have a look.

But Elena got there first. “Oh wow.” She murmured as she ran her hand over his.

Maddox was just shaking his head. “It took me three months to learn how to do that!”

“How come you never told us, Captain?” McGuire asked.

“Donaldson.”

“Hrumph.”

Spencer let Elena and JJ have a look and a feel. He was less sensitive to touch like this, but he could feel their fingers through his fur. All of a sudden he thought of fur and Elena and to keep his mind from going there he fished a 50cent piece from his pocket and started walking it through his new knuckles.

“Okay, now you’re just showing off.” Morgan said.

“It’s harder to grasp through the fur.” Spencer said. But after a moment he got it to work, earning a giggle from Lillit.

“Back home they call it the Hand of Correction.” Jotir said through the translator. “It is only something the most powerful of Alphas can do. I’m not strong enough.”

“Correction?” Elena asked.

“When a Rider breaks the trust of the Clan chief in a truly heinous way,” Jotir mimed whacking someone with a claw. “I never saw or knew of Lord Kesstal doing so, although he too could partially shift.”

Spencer frowned at that. “I can’t imagine doing so.” He focused on that sliding sensation and let the claw fade out and his hand come back. When it was fully there he noticed a burning in his knuckles. “Ow.” He said, shaking it out.

“That happens with a partial shift.” Maddox said as his own hand went back to normal. “It fades in a minute.”

“Well, what do you all think?” Spencer asked.

The group was quiet a minute as it sank in. “Crime fighters with super powers,” Elena said at last. “What’s not to like?”

 


	60. Chapter 60

**Chapter 60**

**Day 19**

Once everyone knew what they were life settled into the pattern it would hold for the next two weeks. Elena and JJ got in to counseling right off. Ladz respectfully refused for now but Spencer rather thought that he would eventually. Jotir claimed it wasn’t needed. The children should but language was an issue. Spencer just didn’t trust it anymore.

During the day JJ and Elena took turns with the kids, teaching them English mostly. JJ spent what time she could with them, hiking, drawing, playing with this wonderful wooden doll house Garcia had found, listening to Aviv practice. She said it felt like it was restoring her focus, getting back to what mattered. The only thing that could have made it perfect would be having Henry there. But when Garcia brought Henry’s pajama’s over she lost it, growling and screaming for her son, nearly attacking the medics who came in to help her. In the end Spencer got her calmed down, only to have her break out in fresh tears. “Now I’m a monster of a mother.” She said.

“No, I don’t think so.” He replied.

“I just tried to kill people because I could smell him.”

“Because you were trying to get to him to protect him; this has sharpened your maternal instincts, not destroyed them. You just need practice to control the reaction.”

She took a deep breath and nodded but only time would tell.

When Elena wasn’t at either task Spencer insisted she take time for herself, she’d gone through the longest trauma after all. She spent a fair amount of time in their room, curled up in bed with the soft pillows and sheets he’d insisted on, escapist novels, an endless river of tea and whatever treats he could convince Garcia to bring them. She didn’t know if she was ready to reenter city life, but slowly she was coming back.

Ladz dove into his work, comfortably buffering himself with theory and proof. “I’m sure I have lost much.” He said at one point. “But I have also gained much. I will mourn my loss in my own time. At my age I have learned not to rush.”

Jotir had a lot to mourn, his friends, his family, his planet, and most of his way of life. As it turned out Vasquez came from an area in South American that had been destroyed by war and narcotics, he too had lost everything when he came to the US. They spent a lot of time walking and talking in the woods.

Lillit and Aviv had cried much when they were first separated from their family. Now that first rush of loss had passed but there was still a lot to deal with. Even as they maintained the stiff upper lip expected of noble children their emotions came out in Aviv’s music, in Lillit’s drawings, and in the nightmares they both had. Spencer kept telling himself they just needed time, to have strong adults to lean on and to not be rushed.

And he spent a lot of time with the only peer he really had in all of this. Maddox. “I read Morgan’s report.” Spencer said as they hiked their way through the hunting ground. “You encountered a shifter on the way to the rebel camp.”

Maddox nodded. “She was a yhite strain. Omega. Apparently she’d been injured in a fight with her non-infected boyfriend. He got kicked out of the community right off for that. Shifting heals injuries quickly, but as soon as you shift the beast is going to come up hungry. They helped her shift and set out hunting but she got seperated from the group. I had Johnson shift to lead her back to camp, he’s a strong beta.”

“And that worked even though they’re different strains?”

“Well enough. You can’t count on it but she was distressed enough to respond to anyone who out-powered her.”

“Was she all right?”

“After? Yeah. The yhite strain tends to intensify emotions so she was pretty shaken up, but she had alphas there to help her.”

They walked along in silence for a time before Spencer worked around to his next, and perhaps most important, question. “How do you do this?”

“Do what?”

“How do you lead people? I mean it’s one thing to think it in your head, it’s another to actually do it.”

Maddox considered this. “Unfortunately you’re asking the wrong question. The question is not how _I_ lead people, we’re military, I have rank; we know how this system works. The question is how are _you_ going to lead people. From what I can tell infected people have lived in three states, they’re either in a very traditional noble house similar to a traditional estate setting, they’re in the military or they don’t know they’re infected. I don’t know that anyone has ever tried to carry a beast that demands hierarchy and insists on dominance into an egalitarian society before. The best suggestion I can give is communicate like crazy and accept that you might make some mistakes.”

He had a point. “Thank you. That helps.”

“It does?”

“Well, it helps me figure out what I need to do this afternoon at least.”

“What’s that?’

“Learn Voiret.”

Maddox burst out laughing. “Just like that?”

“Yeah.” Spencer started heading back to the facility. “See you at dinner.”

* * *

 

A language was, in the end, nothing more than a code. A symbol or combination of symbols stood for a sound. Once you had all the sound-symbol relationships decoded and memorized you were good to go.

Granted it didn’t always leave you with the best accent. As proven when Jotir broke into laughter when he wished him a good evening before dinner. “What?” Spencer asked in fluent Voiret.

“I’m sorry.” Jotir said. His own accent was rich and smooth, of course. “I should not be surprised by anything a clan chief can do anymore. But...your accent is worse than Elena’s.”

“Ouch.” He winced but grinned. “In my experience I tend to lose it quickly when I converse with native speakers.”

“I’ll bet.” All right, laughter was over, although Jotir still wore a smile. “What can I help you with, Lordship?”

“Um, for starters call me Spencer, please.”

That confused the other man. “But that would be disrespectful.”

“Not on our planet. That’s what I need your help with; we’re drawing together people from two different backgrounds.” Ladz’s academic background was similar enough to his and Elena’s to make no odds. “I’m going to need your help in order to figure out the best way to integrate the two, for the children if nothing else, starting with the claiming.”

Jotir nodded. “Anything I can do to help...” He swallowed twice. “...Spencer.”

Spencer smiled. They were getting there.


	61. Chapter 61

**Chapter 61**

**Day 26**

They decided on having the Claiming a few days before the full moon. “Why?” Spencer had asked at the time the decision was made.

“I want to take some kind of vows while I’m still mostly human.” Elena said, “Just in case.”

“You’re nervous about the shift?”

“Of course. You’re not?”

He shrugged. “It’s inevitable now. I’m more curious than anything.”

She just smiled. “You amaze me sometimes.”

Her kisses amazed him all the time.

* * *

 

After looking over the ceremony with Jotir, especially the vows, he was quite pleased to see that only two words would have to be changed. “You’re certain about that?” Jotir asked.

“Yes. Changing the vows like that brings them in line with our values while keeping the spirit intact.”

“But then she doesn’t....”

Spencer shook his head. “She doesn’t have to. Even kittah, omega, here are autonomous people, expected to make their own decisions and take their own responsibility.”

“But it would be so hard on her.”

“Elena is a lot stronger than her beast’s aura would let on.” He smiled. “So is JJ.”

Jotir sighed at that. “This situation is difficult.”

“Oh?”

“He has put her in an impossible position.”

“What would you have him do?”

“Take on the beast. Prove his power as a rider.”

In other words, prove he was the stronger man. From what Spencer knew of Will’s personality and what he had seen of Jotir’s that would only complicate matters. “And then who would care for their son?”

“They would. This house you are buying would have room for us all.”

“And if he too took on the beast?” Jotir shrugged. But then he wouldn’t see a problem with infected children, he was raising two of them now. “And if her husband did not prove his power as a rider?”

Jotir considered this and shrugged again. “I could take in two as well as one.”

Spencer had also learned that ‘taking in’ involved some sort of personal relationship, everything from mentoring to something sexual. Okay, not going there. “He will not ride the beast. He believes it is right to raise his son as a townsman, as does JJ.”

Jotir sighed at this. “This is understandable. But then he should release her from her vows so her beast could find comfort.”

“I don’t think he quite understands yet. Although I think you’re about to say that it’s my job to tell him.”

“As clan chief, yes.”

Spencer sighed. What was he supposed to tell Will, JJ is...is something other now? And I’m in charge of her life? And you really need to set aside those marriage vows you took because her beast really needs to get laid? Why did he want this job again? Maybe he could get McGuire to talk to their marriage counselor. “I’ll see what I can do.”

* * *

 

Then there was explaining to Morgan, who was kind of squicked out about the whole thing. He had been cleared of all infection but kept coming around just to check on them. “I have to respect the social structure.” Spencer explained at one point.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, in Earth marriages vows are taken to the partner. In front of the community as witness, yes, but at no time is the community directly asked to get involved if anything happens in the relationship. If you really look at it, it’s almost that they’re shutting the community out of the relationship and only accountable for living up to those vows to each other. If there’s any sort of power imbalance between the two personalities it would be easy for problems to develop.”

“But they don’t do that?” Morgan thought about it a moment. “No, the first guy was taking his vows to the pastor there.”

Spencer nodded. “On Voiret the omega takes vows to the alpha, and the community expects the alpha will hold him or her accountable. But the alpha takes vows to the community, and then the community holds him or her responsible for their treatment of the omega.”

“...which would go a long way toward circumventing any sort of domestic abuse...”

“...which could more easily develop in people carrying a being so immersed in being dominant.”

“And you’re good with that?”

“What? In being held responsible for how I treat Elena? Absolutely.”

“All right. Are you going to do that biting thing?”

“Not intentionally.”

“Good.”

“But it might still happen. Apparently the idea is to let the beasts have enough control to allow them to bond.”

“Great.” Morgan sounded less than thrilled. “And you don’t want the team here for this?”

“Umm...I mean JJ will be here, of course, and Alex is acting as parent-of-the-bride...”

“...And I will be here. Do not argue.”

“...but given the nature of the ritual I think Garcia, Hotch and Dave might be more comfortable just coming to the Earth culture wedding.”

“Which is going to be...”

“...In December, Elena wants a Christmas wedding, and in Vegas so Mom can be there. Elena is looking at the Wynn I think.”

Morgan nodded at that. “Very nice. A traditional wedding and some playtime for the adults.”

“Speaking of, I’ll need a Best Man...”

\------

Eventually they got around to the afternoon of the Claiming.

At Jotir’s suggestion Spencer wore a dark grey shirt, dark grey trousers and a pair of shoes he could run in. Lillit had made wreaths for them to wear; his was all green and wanted to list over one ear. The men in Maddox’s unit had found a portable white picket fence somewhere, complete with gate and arbor and had put it up between the patio and the way out to the hunting ground. Spencer now knew the symbolism behind it; it set the forest off as a private space, once the gate was closed behind them no one else would be allowed in the forest until their return. He also knew that Jotir had brought out piles of bedding and a full picnic not an hour ago.

This much fuss over what was going to happen was more than a little embarrassing.

As hosting clan chief it was up to Maddox to officiate. Just to add to the show he was wearing his dress uniform. “Really?”

“It’s a wedding. We ought to take this serious.” He said with a huge grin.

All Spencer could do was sigh.

When it was time to start everyone gathered around the gate. Jotir had the kids sit on the grass right in front so they could watch. Maddox stood in front of it and opened the folder he was carrying. “All right. We are here to witness the creation of a marriage. Marriage is the most intimate of all relationships. It is the ultimate commitment to love, share, trust and grow with another person. It is the beginning of a whole new life. By entering into this marriage Elena and Spencer are stating publicly, the feelings and commitments they have held privately between them. They are proclaiming their love for, their trust in and their loyalty to the one they cherish above all others. Marriage has been described as living in love with your best friend. Love is one of the few constants in the universe. It is reality, affinity and communication. Only love is capable of joining living beings by their deepest essence, uniting, completing and fulfilling them. Marriage is a symbol of the commitment to create a lifelong partnership based on love.” He then repeated the entire thing in Voiret before clearing his throat. “Will the one making the claim on this night step forward?” Maddox said, seemingly adding extra pomp and circumstance to his words. Spencer took a deep breath and stepped up in front of Maddox, giving him the traditional formal bow. “Do you intend to take the one known as Elena Rosen for your mate?”

Of course he had memorized the correct responses, in both languages. Surely his memory would not fail him now. “I do so intend.”

They repeated it in Voiret before moving on to the next one. “Do you intend to keep claim on her for as long as you shall live?”

“I do so intend”

“Do you intend to see to her protection and safety, setting aside all other duties and callings if needed?”

“I do so intend”

“Do you intend to see her clothed and fed and housed to the best of your ability, shirking even your own needs to do so?”

“I do so intend”

“Do you intend to allow her the freedom of the woods and fields to roam and hunt as she is drawn?”

“I do so intend”

“Do you intend to advise her to the best of your ability, respecting her needs and her desires in all ways and at all times?”

“I do so intend.”

“Do you intend to extend these promises to her offspring, until they day that they are mature enough to ride the beast or are claimed by another?”

“I do so intend”

“Do you understand that you take these vows before the clans here assembled?”

“I do understand.”

“And should you not hold to these vows will you submit to the assembled clans for reparations as they see fit.”

That was the big one, wasn’t it? Spencer could feel the beast bristling at the word, but this was when the human had to take control and do what was right. “I will so submit.”

They repeated every promise in Voiret. Then Maddox turned back to the group. Will the one who stands for Elena step forward?” That was the cue for Alex to take her few steps to the center and nod to Maddox as equals. “Do you feel the truth in the promises made today?” He asked her.

Elena stepped up behind her but technically she wasn’t there, it was up to Alex to accept his promises first. “I do feel the truth.” She replied.

“And do you believe that Spencer is capable of fulfilling them?”

“I do believe he is.”

“Are you willing to free Elena from her clan bonds at this time?”

“I am.” Alex turned to Elena then, “If you are willing.”

Elena smiled at her. “I am.” They hugged and Alex stepped back as Elena stepped up and dropped a neat curtsy. She was wearing a simple, sturdy skirt and shirt, and her wreath of flowers balanced perfect on her hair. Spencer took one look and felt the beast starting to rise.

“Elena, do you understand that Spencer Reid intends to claim you for his mate?”

She looked him in the eye and smiled. “I do.”

He could feel the beast coming up under his skin.

“Will you remain his for as long as you shall live?”

“I will.”

“Will you agree to allow him to protect you and defend you as needed?”

“I will.”

“Will you allow him to see you fed, clothed and housed knowing he will do so to the best of his ability?”

“I will.”

Her scent was exquisite.

“When you go to the woods to hunt and roam will you always return to his side?”

“I will.”

“Will you listen to him, respecting his knowledge and strength?”

“I will.”

He could almost feel the warmth of her from here.

“And do you understand that you take these vows before these assembled clans as witnesses, and that they will support you along your path as you hold to them?”

“I understand.”

Everything was repeated in both languages, of course. And when it was all done Maddox cleared his throat once more.   “Then, as chief of the...of the United States Armed Forces wolf pack I do declare these vows witnessed and truth and declare them husband and wife.” With that he turned, unlatched the gate, and stepped aside.

Spencer could feel it rolling under his skin. He could feel the mirthful pleasure coming off of her.   God, he wanted to just stalk her or something. Anything to make this whatever it was happen.

“Okay, now what?” JJ asked.

“Just wait for it.” Maddox said quietly.

Jotir cleared his throat and lifted a finger. “Spencer, if I may you might consider...”

Spencer naturally turned to look at the gesture. At that moment Elena took off like a shot through the gate.

For one blinding hot moment Spencer felt the beast shove his consciousness aside. Before he could stop himself he took off after her, following her as she ran into the woods, barely aware of the cheering behind him.


	62. Chapter 62

**Chapter 62**

**Day 26**

He ran after her into the tree line. She had a head start, was light and nimble on her feet, but he was faster than he had ever been. For a moment Spencer felt the beast take over, blinked as it showed him this delicate, sleek creature all silky black fur and temptation, but he forced it back. Not now, he thought, just trust me.

Eventually Elena caught herself against a tree, laughing, and he was able to catch her and pull her into his arms. “Got you.” He said before her mouth found his. She tasted of sweet tea and fruits and sun, of everything good and wonderful in every world. He thought he could drink in her kisses for a lifetime and never be full of them.

“Come on.” She said between kisses. “Can you smell it?”

Smell something other than her heavenly, flowery scent? Maybe. Sun warmed linen maybe and something eatable and that might be candle wax. “Come on.” She said again as she tried to lead him toward that scent and kiss him at the same time.

They managed it somehow, and let their noses lead them to a bower set up in a sheltered spot. Candles in safe lanterns hung in the trees and lengths of cloth had been set up to make a soft, colorful tent. There looked to be a bed down in there, and a pile of bedding and stacks of pillows and a picnic set off to the side. It was a perfect, romantic den for what was going to happen. “This might be better than the Hay-Adams.” He managed to say between kisses.

“I prefer it.” She replied, just before he got done with the teasing and kissed her hard and deep and true. “Oh.” She managed to get out after, as she swayed in his arms.

“You want this?” Yes they had been through the ritual and said all the right things. But at this moment, when he was fighting off the beast at each moment he had to be sure.

“Yes!” She laughed and pressed a kiss to the skin at the base of his throat while she started undoing his buttons. “I have wanted this for so long. That week-end when I was out with friends? I was going to call you to come rescue me.”

“I remember.” He found her lips again, more of those sweet kisses as he pulled her shirt out of her skirt so he could feel the warmth of her skin under his palms.

“I was also going to invite you to spend the night.”

That he hadn’t known. She grinned as she got the rest of his buttons dealt with and pulled his shirt out of his pants, smoothing her hands over his skin, leaving trails of heat behind. “I would have accepted.”

“There we go.” She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and went back to kissing him.

He took the opportunity to lift her slightly and pull her down with him in the pile of bedding. Somewhere in that kiss she got his shirt off. He didn’t bother with her buttons, he just broke that kiss long enough to get her shirt over her head. He took a long moment to admire the vision of her in that little bit of lace before he pulled her in close to reach the clasp on her back. This put her in just the right position to kiss her neck and her shoulder and that nerve under her ear, which made her squirm in his arms and pulled this amazing sound from her lips and this scent that made keeping control all the harder. The beast could feel the life of her under its lips; it wanted to drown in her scent, to taste it and know it intimately. And then it came to him, so hard he couldn’t stop the laughter. “What?” She murmured.

“Had an idea.” He said as he found her lips again. He knew what he needed to do now. “How do I undo this thing?”

She laughed, delighted. “Some engineer.” She teased as she reached behind her and did something that almost seemed double jointed and then she was bare to the waist in the soft light.

“You are so beautiful.” He couldn’t help it. “I love you.”

In reply she pressed into his arms and kissed him once more.

He lay her down in the pile of bedding then, started kissing his way down her body. He savored the soft cream taste of her skin, the warmth, the way she squirmed when he found ticklish spots. He was going on instinct here, but the confidence of the beast was enough to keep him going, and seemed to help more than he had expected. It wanted as much as he did and it was getting impatient, but he didn’t care. He pulled it in tighter and took the tip of her perfect breast between his lips, making her cry out and shake in his arms.

When he had driven her as far as he could there he kept kissing his way down, until he had to undo her skirt and ease it and her panties over her hips, leaving her bare in his den. He kept kissing until he reached the place where he could drown in her, where he could slide his hands under her backside and lift her to his mouth, make her cry out again and again in pleasure and thread her fingers in his hair. The beast utterly approved of this, savored knowing it’s mate this deeply, this well.

He loved her like that, lost in the sensations, letting the beast sink as deeply into its mate as he was the woman he loved, until she started shaking in his arms and her fingers tightened. “Please Spencer! Please!” She cried out. Somehow he managed to get out of his pants which had grown horribly tight as he slid his way back up her body. He settled between her legs as they went around his waist, and he easily found the soaking heat of her. “Look at me. Look at me Elena.” He begged. She opened her eyes and met his and in that moment he thrust his hips forward and felt the beast howl as he groaned. She was so hot, so perfect, truly she was. She cried out and lifted her hips to meet his and tightened her legs to hold him there as she twisted against him. “Yes! Please!”

After that it was instinct. They found a rhythm as old as time and the pleasure built higher and hotter until he thought he would explode with it. But he held on, barely but he held on. He would not before her, would not before she gasped and her eyes went wide. “Spencer?” She howled as her body tightened and shook around his as she flew.

He stopped holding it back then, knowing it would not take long. He let go and took her hard as she shook, not for long because he was right there with her. But even as the howl of claiming started coming, even as the beast within him prepared triumphantly announce its claim, he used every bit of strength his mind had and wrenched it away. He threw himself forward, as deeply into her body as he could and let out that howl as his teeth sank into the pillow beneath her as the world exploded around him.

 


	63. Chapter 63

**Chapter 64**

**Day 27**

“You didn’t mark me.” Elena said.

It was sometime after midnight. Their wedding night den glowed with soft, flickering light under the moon. Spencer lay under the blankets in among the pillows with his mate stretched out beside him. The beast within him was mostly content, although it had ideas of going out and hunting down a deer and dragging it back to give her sustenance after three...or was it four...intense bouts of love making. He was not moving. He was sure as hell not hunting. The beast was just going to have to content itself with whatever was in the picnic hamper. “No, I didn’t.”

“Why not?”

“It seemed barbaric. Animalistic. I’m sorry but I refuse to go biting the woman I love.”

She smiled. “Which is kind of romantic, but I still want your mark.”

Ooo look, strawberries. “You do? You want me to bite you?”

“No, but something more permanent than a ring.”

He offered the strawberry to her lips, felt the beast’s gratification when she bit. See, mate is being properly fed, now hush. “Are you thinking tattoo or something?”

“I think so. I mean the whole point of the mark is so no one gets any ideas.”

That was kind of disturbing, for him and the beast. The beast was just territorial; he’d seen too many victims. “To use a phrase from a movie, as you wish.” He said. “But we are carrying a blood born pathogen; I’m not certain how that will work.”

“Shaw does tattoo art. He’s done most of the guys in the unit. There is chocolate in those strawberries.” She accepted another one. “I’m thinking white. And that I hope we have more of those.”

“White? All right. We do have more, why?” He took a strawberry for himself. She was right; someone had pulled out the white core and replaced it with a tiny bit of dark chocolate. Everything was meant to delight the senses on this night, apparently including the food.

She sat up and slid over him. “We’re going to need the energy.”

* * *

 

Sometime later, in the deep of the night, when they were at least catching their breath she looked up at him once more. “Your initials I think.”

“For?” Some of the lights were gone, but there was enough left for it to be comfortable. And it was just coming on cool enough to make snuggling in the blankets a good thing. Oh, right, for her mark. “Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

He ran his hand over the curve of her hip, “Because you’re not my luggage.”

“No, but I am yours.” She draped herself over his chest.

“But...”

“And more importantly she is yours.”

“But...”

“And I rather suspect she’s not going to be comfortable without some sort of mark. It feels like something is missing.”

“I understand, but...”

“And I don’t want to spend endless days thinking about some kind of symbol or sigil that will in some remote way say what I’m feeling, which I would then have to explain to someone like us when they saw it. I want something simple and direct.”

Oh for heaven’s sake. “As you wish.”

* * *

 

Sometime later, when the only light was the moon and they were finished once more he buried his head in her shoulder. He understood now, what that soft melting feeling she had around her meant. It was comfort and trust and made him feel safe and strong all at once. “Don’t leave.” He said. “Don’t leave again. I don’t think I could bear it.”

“Never,” she kissed his swollen lips gently. “Wolves mate for life.”

* * *

 

In the pale light of dawn they slowly made their way back to the facility. They walked hand in hand, their clothes rumpled from the way they’d come off, their wreathes replaced on their heads, tired from not nearly enough sleep and so deeply in love Spencer knew it would never end.

“We can’t keep the forest to ourselves forever.” Elena said with a sigh as she turned into his arms.

“Nope.”

“I wish we could.”

“Why?” He pulled her in close and kissed her temple and her lips.

“She’s scared.”

She. The beast. “Why?”

“The others are making her nervous.”

“I won’t let them do anything.”

“I know.”

There was no help for it. They had to pass back through the gate and come back to the real world that waited for them.

Of course their family and friends were up early, and were just sort of casually hanging around the common room waiting for them with coffee in hand. “Does this count as a walk of shame?” Morgan asked.

“Not once they’re married.” JJ remarked, not looking up from her tablet.

Maddox walked over and looked around Elena’s shoulder. “You didn’t mark her!”

“That’s barbaric.” Spencer said. “I’m not going to go chewing on someone, anyone.”

“Awwwe.”

“Does it still count for a wedding?” JJ asked, finally looking up.

“It does if the claim is still there.” Maddox slowly reached out to put his hand on Elena’s arm. Before he could she turned and buried her face in Spencer’s chest. He felt this deep, inhuman growl come from him that instantly had the attention of everyone in the room. Maddox quickly pulled his hand away and took a step back.

Ladz was over by the window, savoring his pipe. “That would be a yes.” He said with a laugh.

“Hell that got my hackles up.” Morgan said.

Spencer just blinked. He hadn’t planned on reacting like that. Elena was still her own woman after all. What the hell had triggered that? “You try it.” He said to Morgan.

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

“No taking my arm off.” He slowly reached out, placed one hand on Elena’s shoulder, and eventually settled with his arm around her, “Anything?”

“No.” He looked at Elena, “You?”

“I’m fine.” She gave Morgan a quick hug and stepped away. Then she went and hugged Ladz and then Jotir. “Still fine.”

One of Maddox’s men offered himself with open arms. “What about me?”

“No.” Elena replied. Her body language read as fear, even though there was no reason he could see for it. She turned and wrapped back up in Spencer’s arms, even as her beast seemed to crawl under his for safety.

In the meantime Jotir had seen Elena’s clean neck. “You didn’t mark her?” He sounded almost offended.

What was it with these people. “That’s barbaric.” Spencer said again. “I’m not going to go chewing on anyone. We have another idea.” He looked over at Maddox. “Can we borrow Shaw for a bit?”

Maddox grinned and stepped to the hall way. “Shaw!!”

“Yo!!”

“Front and center, bring your ink kit.”

* * *

 

It wasn’t more than an hour later. Spencer didn’t want to wait, not with the way Elena’s beast felt to his. It was scared of all the male beasts around it, he realized, mating left it feeling vulnerable, somehow a mark would make it feel safe and confident again. And maybe the woman as well, although she kept insisting it was for the beast.

It didn’t take much, Shaw had some white ink, they found a font they both liked, set the letters just so. She decided she wanted it on her neck, where the bite should have been. “That way if anyone goes looking for a claim mark they find it.”

Finally it was time. “You’re sure you want this?” He asked one last time.

She gave him this look that had him wanting to drag her off again. “More than anything.”

As the gun buzzed and bit at her skin she gasped just once and took his hand tightly. “Don’t move.” Shaw said. “I know it hurts but this will only take a minute.”

But it wasn’t pain. Elena’s eyes met Spencer’s as he felt her beast melting under him in perfect love and trust. This was just what it wanted and what the human wanted too.

After what seemed like no time at all Shaw was done. The entwined letters were about an inch and a half high, looked bright white but from what he saw on the net would fade to a pale, lacy effect in a couple of weeks. It was actually kinda pretty. “Here,” he lifted the mirror so she could see and was relieved to see her not only grin but also lift her chin, a sigh of her confidence restored.

“Good.” She said, as she admired the work. “Thank you.”

“Thank you. For everything.”

As everyone murmured to Shaw about the work nicely done Maddox tossed Spencer a jar of ointment. “Treat it with that so it stays through the shift.” He said. “You don’t want to have to do this again after tomorrow.”

Tomorrow. That would be another big transition. But for now, as he looked into his mate’s eyes, Spencer was very happy.


	64. Chapter 64

**Chapter 65**

**Day 28**

Shift night came at last. Tonight would set the pattern for their monthly appointment for a long time to come.

All day everyone had been slightly snappish, almost cranky with each other. At one point JJ said that it was like they all had PMS or something. And their inhibitor bands itched, Morgan watched people digging at them more than once. He also noticed that both groups, who had been comfortable together until now, were giving the other a wide birth. “Mental note,” he said to JJ. “On full moon days, you just get up and go straight to the plane. I don’t want to have to deal with either of you.”

“I agree.” She replied. “I do not think I could handle a local LEO with a belief in dumb blonds right now.” She dug her fingers under the inhibitor band. “Ugh! Damn it!”

“What?”

“This thing itches!”

“I think that’s supposed to mean that it’s working.”

“Great. Is it nighttime yet?”

Supper finally rolled around. Tonight it was giant pans of lasagna. “Eat until you’re full.” McGuire advised. “You’ll need the carbs to sustain you through the shift.”

“What if you can’t eat before you shift?” Spencer asked.

“We have a protocol for that.” McGuire said. “You’ll all be issued MedicAlert tags before you leave, if needed medical personnel will be able to call in and get the protocol.”

After dinner Lillit was sent off to bed early. “I want to watch!” She said.

“I’m sorry little miss.” Jotir said. “These are townsmen, afraid of the beast. They intend to lock us out, which would mean you could not get back to your bed. Better to go there now. You will be a rider soon enough.” Once she was tucked into her room with her drawing things he returned. “Are you ready?” He asked Aviv.

Aviv had been nervous, over excited all evening long. Now he was almost bouncing up and down, and nodded as he tried to repress his grin. “I think so.”

“Are you ready?” Spencer asked Morgan.

They had built a reinforced cage attached to one of the doors to the grounds, steel and thick shatterproof shields. Morgan was going to stay in there and observe the transformation, to see if he could handle backing them up in the field. “I think so.” He said.

“We’ll go first.” Maddox said. “When we’re clear McGuire will give you the signal to come out.”

“All right.”

“We’ll see you all afterwards.” With that McGuire returned to the central station and they went into lockdown procedure. This involved closing steel roll down doors over every door and window, and the ones that separated the common room from the rest of the facility.

“So now we just wait?” JJ asked. They were still sitting at the now clean dinner table.

“Until Maddox and his men clear the field,” Spencer said. “It shouldn’t’ take long.”

About ten minutes later they heard a roar from outside. It was loud enough to rattle the windows, made their hearts pound. A few minutes later the outer doors started to open. “The field is clear.” McGuire said over the intercom. “Just leave your inhibitors on the table.”

This was it. They all looked at each other. Jotir was the first to peel his off. He smiled as he rubbed his wrist, as if glad to be free of it. Ladz took his off with a shrug, set his pipe next to it and stepped briskly to the patio. Aviv took his off slowly, his eyes going wide with wonder as he followed Jotir and Ladz out. JJ and Elena looked to each other as if for reassurance, took them off and went out together. Spencer was the last. “See you on the other side.” He said to Morgan.

“Right,” Morgan stepped into that cage and stood there, watching them all, as the steel doors rolled down behind them. “How do you feel?” He asked.

“No different.” Spencer replied.

“You don’t?” JJ asked, sounding surprised.

“I think it’s an alpha thing.”

“When you understand the theory behind it,” Ladz said as he stepped away. “It should not be that difficult.” He turned his face up to the moon, took a deep breath...and it started.

They best way anyone could describe it later was that he seemed to slide sideways. As he slid something else seemed to slide into his place, something larger, darker. For a moment they could hear Ladz groan as it slid past him and then the beast was there.

It was much like Morgan remembered the other, an easy seven feet at the shoulder, solid with muscle, legs that seemed to have an extra joint, those clawed hands, pointed ears and a long, slender muzzle lined with sharp teeth. And a tail, this one had much more of a tail; it swished back and forth as if to counter balance. It was covered with fur, a silvery mottling of gray. As Morgan watched it turned back to look at its tail as if fascinated by the movement of it.

Morgan turned at the sound of voices. Spencer and Jotir were standing with Aviv, who was wide eyed, almost scared at what was about to happen. They seemed to be coaching him into it, kind of easing him into it. As Morgan watched his eyes got wider and wider and then he too slowly slid sideways.

As it had for the older man it didn’t take long. Morgan heard him give one quiet cry and then the beast was there, smaller than the other, covered in butterscotch fur. It spun around, quickly ran off to look at, well, everything. You could tell that it was young and curious and wanted to see the whole world at once.

Jotir laughed, delighted at the young one’s enjoyment. It hardly took him any time at all, one moment he was there, the next he slid with the ease of practice and there was his beast, covered in iron gray fur, quiet and serious. It loped after the younger one, caught it by the nape of the neck and dragged it back to the group. But then something caught its eye. If a thing like that could have its jaw drop, Morgan thought, then that one just did.

He turned to look the way Jotir was and his own jaw dropped. Lillit was right, girl fur was pretty. So were girls, or at least these girls. They weren’t any smaller but they seemed to be more delicate, more graceful. And compared to the short fur on the guys theirs was longer and seemed silky from here. One was black, sleek as a raven in the moonlight, with eyes that could only be described as emerald green. The other had eyes that could only be called sapphire blue and fur the color of wheat. That one had to be... “JJ?” Morgan whispered, “Holy fucking hell.” She looked right at him and didn’t seem to even recognize him. As Morgan watched she loped over and tucked herself into Jotir’s arms as if she might never let go.

That left one person. “You doing this?” Morgan called out.

Spencer didn’t reply. He just turned his face up to the moon. Turned out he could make it happen as quickly as Jotir, one moment he was there, the next it was a chocolate brown beast, head and shoulders larger than the others. But unlike the others it didn’t go right after the rest, or start looking around in curiosity. It stood stock still and very quietly growled.

Morgan waited.

It dropped its head and softly growled again.

He watched it’s every move.

It shook all over, shaking its head hard as it growled again.

He swallowed, wondering what would happen.

At last it seemed to sag and relax, then rear up and turn to look at him. It only took a few loping steps to bring it right up to the front of the cage where in leaned down to peer at him. And then it extended one, long claw. Morgan couldn’t help it; he stepped back and pressed against the back of the cage as that claw reached out to him.

No, not to him. It was reaching into the soft soil of the ground under him. As Morgan watched it started to write

_A2+b2=c2_

_Log xy = log x + log y_

_i2 = -1_

All of a sudden Morgan realized what it was doing. No way the beast could be running equations. “Reid?” He couldn’t help it, he started to laugh as the beast nodded and gave him a huge goofy grin, his tongue lolling out. “You’re running that thing? You’re in control?” The beast nodded again and made a sound that had to be chuckling. “All right!” That was what they needed. They could do this now.

Still chuckling Reid turned and started herding his people to the forest to do what they needed to do. Morgan watched them run off into the trees, and then the night opened with another ear splitting roar. But it was all right. His friend had this. Super powers. This was going to be good.


	65. Chapter 65

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 6 - Recovery
> 
> The road to recovery will not always be easy, but I will take it one day at a time, focusing on the moments I've dreamed about for so long.
> 
> \- Amanda Lindhout

**Chapter 65**

**Day 29**

It was dark in their room when Spencer opened his eyes.

He sensed the warm body in the bed next to him, exactly where she should be, and further out he sensed his people sleeping nearby. Good, all was well. He snuggled back down for a bit and went over what he remembered of the night before.

“Mmmm. Spence?” Elena asked.

“You don’t have to get up yet.”

“Mmm, good.” He felt her turning over. “What happened last night?”

“You don’t remember?”

“I remember going outside. That’s about it.”

“I remember some of it.”

“Some. You remember everything.”

“I kinda let it take over for the hunt part. Some things you just don’t want to know about. But I remember after.”

“What happened?”

“The medics came out, wrapped everyone up in blankets, and got them into bed.” He reached over and ran a hand down her back. “They were very professional.”

“Mmmm good. That’s it then?”

“Yeah. We should be able to go home later today.”

“Mmmm, good. I want that bed you showed me.” He heard her sigh as she started drifting off again.

Just then he felt someone...no, JJ...wake up, but not in any excited sort of way. A moment later he felt that change but before he could pinpoint it there was knocking on the door. “Elena.” JJ said as she cracked the door open. ”Elena, wake up!”

“What?” Elena asked.

“You have to see this!”

“What?” But she got up, pulled on her robe and went to the door, only to have JJ drag her into the bathroom. “Oh my god!” She exclaimed

Now he had to know. Spencer reached for his pajama pants, got them on, and fumbled for his glasses before starting the zombie walk to the bathroom. “What happ...ahhhh!” He put his glasses on and everything skewed blurry.

“Look!” JJ said.

Spencer looked.

They were _healthy_.

They were both _healed_.

Their skin was completely clear of the scars Bastian had given them. Their facial features were repaired into their former elegant lines. Their eyes were clear and he thought perhaps more brightly colored than before. But their hair was what caught the attention. Yesterday both of them had worn bandannas to dinner to cover the chopped, ragged mess on their scalps. This morning their hair had grown back. JJ’s hung to her waist in soft waves the color of wheat while Elena had thick, soft curls of perfect ebony. “Whoa.”

“Whoa.” JJ said in reply.

“What?”

She pointed at the mirror.

Spencer looked and stared at himself. His own hair now hung to his collar, where it had been chopped last night. His own scars had cleared; his face was back to normal. But now he had a beard to rival Dave’, thick and lush and long. “Ok, that has to go.”

“Thank you.” Elena said. “How can you even see it, you don’t have your glasses on?”

Wait. Spencer blinked, looked down at the glasses in his hand, tried them once more and immediately took them off. “I think I have perfect vision now, except for the color blindness.”   That had not gone away. “I think I’m going to get my knee checked.”

“I think I’m going to go check on the kids.” JJ said before stepping out.

Elena turned and looked at her reflection again. “Think I’m beautiful now?”

“I thought you were beautiful yesterday.” Spencer pulled her into his arms and kissed her until she laughed for him.

* * *

 

“Are you keeping the long hair?”

Spencer looked in the mirror. Yes, better without the beard. “Jotir did say that long hair was the mark of the rider.”

“At least comb it back then.”

“It never stays when I do.”

Elena dug in her bag and came back with a bottle. “Try some of this for it.”

Why not. He accepted the offer and gave it a try. “Garcia got me some stuff for it at one point, but I kept forgetting to pack it.”

“Now you have a wife to remind you. Here,” she took the comb and got it back just so. “There. Very distinguished. Like a clan chief should be.”

* * *

 

When they finally made it to breakfast they found Maddox and his men taking clippers to their hair in the corner. “Not wearing it long?” Spencer asked.

“Military regulations,” Maddox replied, “The only bad part of all this. So, you all are moving out today?”

“Looks like. We have a house they helped us find out in the Forest Hills area. It’s right up against the park for the kids.”

“Awesome. You guys are taking some time still, yeah?’

“At least another week for JJ and me. Elena is taking the rest of the academic year off to heal and help the others settle in and learn English. She’s going to be setting up an archive to preserve what you can bring back on Noble culture. What about you?”

“We’re heading back to the planet; see what we can do to help.” Maddox smiled. “We’ll keep an eye out for anyone from the Kesstel clan.”

“Thank you.” Spencer turned away at the whiff of pipe smoke coming from the window. “How did you sleep?”

“Excellent! Very well!” Ladz said with a smile. “I remember none of it but that is what we were to expect, no? Except for you alphas? Now I feel twenty years younger. And my hair, heh.” He now sported a thick, neatly combed white mane. “Now I look forward to seeing your fine city and to meeting the other scientists.”

“We should be moving later today.”

“Excellent! Excellent! I shall be able to set up my study and return to my work in earnest!”

There was a flurry of movement by the door. Spencer turned as Jotir came in with a bouncy Lillit beside him. “How are you this morning?” He asked, switching languages.

“Well rested.” Jotir replied with a smile. “Those who attend here do very well.”

“They do.” Spencer was curious about something. “Do you remember what happened last night?”

“In the fur? Yes, I do now. I did not for the first few years. Only those with the strength of an alpha remember right off, for the rest it must be learned.”

“Good to know. How is Aviv this morning?”

Jotir grinned. “Taller. I had to show him how to shave this morning; it is why we are late.”

That turned out to not be metaphor. Aviv was a good five inches taller this morning, and had filled out a bit as well. And he had also healed as the rest of them had, and his hair hung to his collar. “How are you this morning?” Spencer asked him

“Well rested.” Aviv replied.

“What is he then?” Jotir asked.

Spencer took a step closer to the teen and picked up on that soft melting feeling he got off Elena and JJ. “Omega I think.” That was going to be interesting.

Maddox stepped closer as well. “Yep. All the omegas and all of the woman, how did you manage that?”

“I could say something about intelligence here...”

Maddox just laughed at that.

“I didn’t dream of my mate though.” Aviv said with a sigh. “I was hoping...”

“You will find her.” Spencer reassured him. “Or she will find you.”

Aviv didn’t even blush. “He will.”

Oh. “He will.” He turned to Jotir. “Where did JJ go?”

“To the meeting room. Come little miss. Time for breakfast.”

Spencer headed that way, only to be caught by Elena. “We are packed.” She said. “Once we get through the last round of check-ups they said we can go. Oh, and I confirmed the Wynn for the wedding.”

“Awesome. All around. I’ll be right in for breakfast.” Spencer heard familiar voices in the meeting room, peeked around the door, and spotted JJ on a video conference call. Now that she was healthy she had called her mother to talk to Henry.   At least she could keep in contact with him that way now. He knew that with effort and patience she could get enough control to be able to see him again. Now for breakfast.

“Good morning.” Morgan said as he headed that way.

“So, how was it?”

“Do you remember any of it?”

“Most of it. I figured the beast wouldn’t know mathematical expressions.”

“Yeah, that worked. So we got word this morning, when Strauss comes back from rehab she is taking early retirement.”

“Good. Did Donaldson ever talk?”

“Nope. When you get back that’s the first thing we have to tackle.”

“All right.”

Morgan looked through the window at the group. “So what does this make you now? Officially?”

“Head of the wolf pack of DC,” Spencer said. Then he went to join his people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we have reached the end of the story of the DC wolf pack for now, but I can already feel a sequel coming on. Once again my great thanks goes to my beta reader, the amazing REIDFANATIC, who puts up with sci-fi and Spencer hunting Bambi for me.
> 
> I am still working on The First Run, I swear. Thankfully Spencer finally told me what he was doing on that mountain, so I will be getting back to that. 
> 
> I also have another, shorter one nearly done which I will start posting tonight so you can all come have a look.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this one. Thank you for reading
> 
> \- TKL


End file.
